Working Towards Climate Equity: The Case for a Federal Climate Service (Hearing, 2021)
Summary
The printed record of a hearing before the Subcommittee on Environment of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, House of Representatives, dated April 21, 2021 (Serial No. 117-9), titled "Working Towards Climate Equity: The Case for a Federal Climate Service." It includes a hearing charter and statements by Chairwoman Mikie Sherrill, Ranking Member Stephanie I. Bice, Ranking Member Frank Lucas and Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson. Witnesses are Dr. Richard Moss of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's Joint Global Change Research Institute, Beth Gibbons of the American Society of Adaptation Professionals, Dr. Jeffrey B. Basara of the University of Oklahoma and Liz Williams Russell of the Foundation for Louisiana. Appendix II lists letters submitted by Sherrill and studies submitted by Gibbons.
Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used
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“Working Towards Climate Equity: The Case for a Federal Climate Service (Hearing, 2021).”
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[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
WORKING TOWARDS CLIMATE EQUITY:
THE CASE FOR A FEDERAL CLIMATE SERVICE
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE,
AND TECHNOLOGY
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
APRIL 21, 2021
__________
Serial No. 117-9
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via the World Wide Web: http://science.house.gov
COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY
HON. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas, Chairwoman
ZOE LOFGREN, California FRANK LUCAS, Oklahoma,
SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon Ranking Member
AMI BERA, California MO BROOKS, Alabama
HALEY STEVENS, Michigan, BILL POSEY, Florida
Vice Chair RANDY WEBER, Texas
MIKIE SHERRILL, New Jersey BRIAN BABIN, Texas
JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York ANTHONY GONZALEZ, Ohio
BRAD SHERMAN, California MICHAEL WALTZ, Florida
ED PERLMUTTER, Colorado JAMES R. BAIRD, Indiana
JERRY McNERNEY, California PETE SESSIONS, Texas
PAUL TONKO, New York DANIEL WEBSTER, Florida
BILL FOSTER, Illinois MIKE GARCIA, California
DONALD NORCROSS, New Jersey STEPHANIE I. BICE, Oklahoma
DON BEYER, Virginia YOUNG KIM, California
CHARLIE CRIST, Florida RANDY FEENSTRA, Iowa
SEAN CASTEN, Illinois JAKE LaTURNER, Kansas
CONOR LAMB, Pennsylvania CARLOS A. GIMENEZ, Florida
DEBORAH ROSS, North Carolina JAY OBERNOLTE, California
GWEN MOORE, Wisconsin PETER MEIJER, Michigan
DAN KILDEE, Michigan VACANCY
SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania
LIZZIE FLETCHER, Texas
VACANCY
------
Subcommittee on Environment
HON. MIKIE SHERRILL, New Jersey, Chairwoman
SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon STEPHANIE I. BICE, Oklahoma,
DAN KILDEE, Michigan Ranking Member
LIZZIE FLETCHER, Texas ANTHONY GONZALEZ, Ohio
CHARLIE CRIST, Florida RANDY FEENSTRA, Iowa
SEAN CASTEN, Illinois CARLOS A. GIMENEZ, Florida
C O N T E N T S
April 21, 2021
Page
Hearing Charter.................................................. 2
Opening Statements
Statement by Representative Mikie Sherrill, Chairwoman,
Subcommittee on Environment, Committee on Science, Space, and
Technology, U.S. House of Representatives...................... 8
Written Statement............................................ 9
Statement by Representative Stephanie I. Bice, Ranking Member,
Subcommittee on Environment, Committee on Science, Space, and
Technology, U.S. House of Representatives...................... 10
Written Statement............................................ 12
Statement by Representative Frank Lucas, Ranking Member,
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of
Representatives................................................ 12
Written Statement............................................ 13
Written statement by Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson,
Chairwoman, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S.
House of Representatives....................................... 14
Witnesses:
Dr. Richard Moss, Senior Scientist, Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory's Joint Global Change Research Institute at the
University of Maryland, Chair, Convening Board, SCAN, and Non-
resident Fellow, Andlinger Center, Princeton University
Oral Statement............................................... 15
Written Statement............................................ 18
Ms. Beth Gibbons, Executive Director, American Society of
Adaptation Professionals
Oral Statement............................................... 35
Written Statement............................................ 37
Dr. Jeffrey B. Basara, Director, Kessler Atmospheric and
Ecological Field Station, Executive Associate Director,
Hydrology and Water Security Program, University of Oklahoma
Oral Statement............................................... 51
Written Statement............................................ 53
Ms. Liz Williams Russell, Climate Justice Program Director,
Foundation for Louisiana
Oral Statement............................................... 89
Written Statement............................................ 91
Appendices:
``Nonprofit Knowledge Works,'' LASAFE Final Report....... 99
``Predicting the Future of Coastal Communities: Toward
Fairness and Equity in Coastal Planning,'' Foundation
for Louisiana, et al................................... 102
``Toward Holistic Planning for Community Adaptation on
the Louisiana Coast,'' Workshop Report................. 106
Discussion....................................................... 133
Appendix I: Answers to Post-Hearing Questions
Dr. Richard Moss, Senior Scientist, Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory's Joint Global Change Research Institute at the
University of Maryland, Chair, Convening Board, SCAN, and Non-
resident Fellow, Andlinger Center, Princeton University........ 150
Ms. Beth Gibbons, Executive Director, American Society of
Adaptation Professionals....................................... 157
Appendix II: Additional Material for the Record
Letters submitted by Representative Mikie Sherrill, Chairwoman,
Subcommittee on Environment, Committee on Science, Space, and
Technology, U.S. House of Representatives
Lexi Shultz, Vice President, Public Affairs, American
Geophysical Union.......................................... 162
The American Society of Civil Engineers...................... 164
``Support for Federal Investment and Leadership in Climate
Services,'' Bill McCormick, P.E., P.G., President,
Association of State Dam Safety Officials.................. 170
Chad Berginnis, Executive Director, Association of State
Floodplain Managers........................................ 172
James Arnott, Executive Director, Julie Vano, Research
Director, Aspen Global Change Institute.................... 174
Jeff Hicks, CEO, James Fox, Senior Resilience Associate,
FernLeaf Interactive....................................... 177
Tonya Graham, Executive Director, Geos Institute, et al...... 179
Steve Demetriou, Chair & Chief Executive Officer, Jacobs..... 185
Rich Sorkin, CEO, Jupiter Intelligence....................... 186
Jeanne Herb, Co-director, Marjorie Kaplan, Co-director, NJ
Climate Change Resource Center............................. 192
Jennifer Jurado, Ph.D., Chief Resilience Officer and
Director, Environmental Planning and Community Resilience
Division, Broward County, Southeast Florida Regional
Climate Change Compact, et al.............................. 196
David McGlinchey, Chief of External Affairs, Woodwell Climate
Research Center............................................ 198
Studies submitted by Ms. Beth Gibbons, Executive Director,
American Society of Adaptation Professionals
``2021 Policy Priorities,'' American Society of Adaptation
Professionals.............................................. 200
Policy Recommendations, American Society of Adaptation
Professionals.............................................. 204
``ASAP Living Guide to the Principles of Climate Change
Adaptation,'' American Society of Adaptation Professionals. 213
``ASAP Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Statement,''
American Society of Adaptation Professionals............... 229
``Climate Change Adaptation & Resilience Industry Segments,''
American Society of Adaptation Professionals............... 231
``Advancing Meaningful Climate Action Through TCFD
Disclosures,'' WSP......................................... 235
WORKING TOWARDS CLIMATE
EQUITY: THE CASE FOR
A FEDERAL CLIMATE SERVICE
----------
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Environment,
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology,
Washington, D.C.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 11:01 a.m.,
via Zoom, Hon. Mikie Sherrill [Chairwoman of the Subcommittee]
presiding.
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairwoman Sherrill. All right. Well, I think we'll get
started. And I think we're expecting our Ranking Member in just
a few moments. She got a bit caught up--oh, there she is.
Fantastic. Wonderful. OK. So welcome, everyone.
First, Members should keep their video feed on as long as
they are present at the hearing, just a few reminders. And so--
and I'm going to just go over the precepts of the hearing as we
get started.
So this hearing will come to order. Without objection, the
Chair is authorized to declare recess at any time. Pursuant to
House Resolution 8, today, the Committee is meeting virtually,
so I do want to announce a couple reminders to the Members
about the conduct of this remote hearing.
As I mentioned, keep your video feed on as long as you are
present. Members are responsible for their own microphones,
always dangerous. Please keep your microphones muted unless you
are speaking. Finally, if Members have documents they wish to
submit for the record, please email them to the Committee
Clerk, whose email address was circulated prior to the hearing.
Good morning. Welcome to the first Environment
Subcommittee hearing of the 117th Congress. I would also like
to welcome Ranking Member Bice to the Subcommittee. Ranking
Member of the Full Committee, Congressman Lucas, is also here
with us today. Thank you so much for joining us.
I look forward to continuing this Subcommittee's
bipartisan work to advance our understanding of the Earth
system and support science that empowers us to confront the
pressing challenges that we face with the climate crisis.
Climate change is increasingly an acute, costly reality
for businesses and communities across the country, whether it's
electric utilities facing increased threats from drought and
wildfires or city streets inundated with stormwater runoff and
sunny-day flooding. As Congress considers investments to
rebuild our country's infrastructure and take action to
mitigate the most catastrophic impacts of the climate crisis,
the best available science is crucial to making sure that
precious dollars are spent on projects that will last. Today's
hearing is about making sure our Nation's state-of-the-art
climate observations, modeling, and research makes it into the
hands of the workers upgrading our highways and bridges,
growing our food, and retrofitting our buildings.
The gaps in actionable climate risk information are
impacting communities like the ones I represent in the 11th
District of New Jersey. My constituents have long experienced
flooding, but climate change is only increasing the risk for
more frequent and intense heavy precipitation events in our
area. For example, in 2018 nearly 5 inches of precipitation
fell in just 50 minutes, causing catastrophic flooding in
Caldwell, Little Falls, and Woodland Park, even carrying away
42 cars from a Jeep dealership. And when Hurricane Irene hit,
rains flooded parts of Morristown, washing away the bottom
floor of the historic Bethel AME church.
To help us understand how this reality will affect us in
the near term, Federal scientific agencies collect large-scale,
trusted data from NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration) satellites and USGS (United States Geological
Survey) streamgages. While these data inform some of the best
climate models and research in the world, they don't always get
translated into tools and local information that can help a
family in Pequannock decide whether to purchase a mortgage in a
flood-prone area, or help a town manager in Pompton Lakes
determine when to dredge rivers to minimize flood hazards, or
assist officials in Fairfield assess the need to raise homes to
avoid flooding damage.
This is both a science issue and an equity issue. The
private sector is building innovative products underpinned by
Federal data to help their clients understand and act on
climate risk. However, at a time when State and local
governments are resource-strapped, not all communities can hire
consultants or a climate services firm to help them incorporate
climate risk into their resilience planning. Smaller and rural
communities, as well as underserved communities and communities
of color, which are often first hit and worst hit by climate
change, must have the basic information they need to make the
difficult adaptation decisions we are facing now and in the
years to come.
While the private sector is a critical partner, it cannot
replace an authoritative, accessible baseline of Federal
science and climate services. Federal climate services should
also incorporate sustained feedback and coproduction of
knowledge with impacted communities to make sure the science
remains decision-relevant as user needs rapidly change.
Earlier this year, I introduced two bills to tackle the
challenge of flooding and improve climate risk information. The
PRECIP Act would update nationwide, authoritative precipitation
studies, and incorporate future climate risk into the studies,
in order to improve local flood mapping, weather prediction,
and resilience planning. The FLOODS Act would establish a
National Integrated Flood Information System at NOAA to
coordinate and integrate flood research across the agency, and
make improvements to flood forecasts, watches, and warnings.
These bills are just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to
improving authoritative and actionable Federal tools and
technical assistance for climate adaptation.
Similarly, I hope that this conversation is the beginning
of a robust dialog on the Subcommittee about what a Federal--
what a system of Federal climate services should look like and
how it can best serve communities on the frontlines of this
crisis.
I am pleased to welcome our distinguished panel of
witnesses today who will help provide critical perspectives on
this issue.
[The prepared statement of Chairwoman Sherrill follows:]
Good morning, and welcome to the first Environment
Subcommittee hearing of the 117th Congress. I would also like
to welcome Ranking Member Bice to the subcommittee. I look
forward to continuing this subcommittee's bipartisan work to
advance our understanding of the Earth system and support
science that empowers us to confront the pressing challenges
that we face with the climate crisis.
Climate change is increasingly an acute, costly reality for
businesses and communities across the country, whether it is
electric utilities facing increased threats from drought and
wildfires or city streets inundated with stormwater runoff and
sunny-day flooding.
As Congress considers investments to rebuild our country's
infrastructure and take action to mitigate the most
catastrophic impacts of the climate crisis, the best available
science is crucial to making sure that precious dollars are
spent on projects that will last.
Today's hearing is about making sure our Nation's state-of-
the-art climate observations, modeling, and research makes it
into the hands of the workers upgrading our highways and
bridges, growing our food, and retrofitting our buildings.
The gaps in actionable climate risk information are
impacting communities like the ones I represent in the 11th
District of New Jersey. My constituents have long experienced
flooding, but climate change is only increasing the risk for
more frequent and intense heavy precipitation events in our
area. For example, in 2018 nearly 5 inches of precipitation
fell in just 50 minutes causing catastrophic flooding in
Caldwell, Little Falls and Woodland Park, even carrying away 42
cars from a Jeep dealership. And when Hurricane Irene hit,
rains flooded parts of Morristown, washing away the bottom
floor of the historic Bethel AME church.
To help us understand how this reality will affect us in
the near term, federal scientific agencies collect large-scale,
trusted data from NOAA satellites and USGS stream gages. While
these data inform some of the best climate models and research
in the world, they don't always get translated into tools and
local information that can help a family in Pequannock decide
whether to purchase a mortgage in a flood-prone area, or help a
town manager in Pompton Lakes determine when to dredge rivers
to minimize flood hazards, or assist officials in Fairfield
asses the need to raise homes to avoid flooding damage.
This is both a science issue and an equity issue. The
private sector is building innovative products underpinned by
Federal data to help their clients understand and act on
climate risk. However, at a time when state and local
governments are resource-strapped, not all communities can hire
consultants or a climate services firm to help them incorporate
climate risk into their resilience planning.
Smaller and rural communities, as well as underserved
communities and communities of color which are often hit first
and worst by climate change, must have the basic information
they need to make the difficult adaptation decisions we are
facing now and in the years to come.
While the private sector is a critical partner, it cannot
replace an authoritative, accessible baseline of Federal
science and climate services. Federal climate services should
also incorporate sustained feedback and co-production of
knowledge with impacted communities to make sure the science
remains decision-relevant as user needs rapidly change.
Earlier this year, I introduced two bills to tackle the
challenge of flooding and improve climate risk information. The
PRECIP Act would update nationwide, authoritative precipitation
studies, and incorporate future climate risk into the studies,
in order to improve local flood mapping, weather prediction,
and resilience planning.
The FLOODS Act would establish a National Integrated Flood
Information System at NOAA to coordinate and integrate flood
research across the agency, and make improvements to flood
forecasts, watches, and warnings.
These bills are just one piece of the puzzle when it comes
to improving authoritative and actionable Federal tools and
technical assistance for climate adaptation.
Similarly, I hope that this conversation is the beginning
of a robust dialogue on the Subcommittee about what a system of
Federal Climate Services should look like, and how it can best
serve communities on the front lines of this crisis. I am
pleased to welcome our distinguished panel of witnesses today
who will help provide critical perspectives on this issue.
With that, I now recognize Ranking Member Bice for her
opening statement.
Chairwoman Sherrill. And now I'd like to recognize Ranking
Member Bice for her opening statement.
Ms. Bice. Thank you, Chairwoman Sherrill. I'm looking
forward to this first Subcommittee hearing, as well as a
productive relationship throughout this entire Congress.
There are few States who would benefit more from a better
understanding of weather and climate than Oklahoma. We're home
to 86,000 farms that feed and clothe our State, our Nation, and
the world. Entire families' livelihoods depend on long-term and
short-term weather patterns, so any future changes resulting
from a changing climate need to be effectively communicated to
them.
Arguably the most important component of any farmer's
operation, and a topic of conversation today, is precipitation.
It's common sense that too little rain results in a drought and
farmers will have lower yields as a result. But people often
overlook that too much rain, either in frequency or volume,
also presents problems to crop production. Precisely predicting
both high and low values informs what crops to plant and when
to harvest. Therefore, accurate and trustworthy data, along
with a variety of other information, is essential to an entire
industry and many States' main economic driver. And due to the
unique geography of individual States, a mix of Federal and
local services is ideal. It is not a one-size-fits-all puzzle.
Currently, the Federal Government, through the National
Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, operates Atlas 14, which provides precipitation
frequency estimates that become the standard for relevant
regulation, permits, and recommended best practices. States use
this information for standards in designing, building, and
operating infrastructure to withstand the forces of heavy
precipitation and floods. At the same time, many States have
recognized the need for additional data and have dedicated
their own resources to protect lives and properties with
accurate forecasts and predictions.
There is no better example than Oklahoma, where two of the
State's premier universities--Oklahoma State and the University
of Oklahoma--have long histories of researching weather
patterns. The National Weather Service, the Nation's leading
facility in researching climate and weather, is based in
Norman, Oklahoma.
Additionally, you'll find no more valued State resource
than the Oklahoma Mesonet. Founded as a partnership between
Oklahoma State and the University of Oklahoma, the Mesonet
takes weather observations every 5 minutes, then transmits this
data to a central process facility, which in turn puts it out
to the public 5 to 10 minutes later. With one Mesonet station
in every Oklahoma county collecting data 24 hours per day year-
round, weather events like thunderstorms, wind gusts, heat
bursts, and drylines can't go undetected and wreak havoc on an
unsuspecting farm or ranch.
I look forward to hearing from Dr. Jeff Basara, a
professor and researcher at the University of Oklahoma. His
research is focused on land-atmosphere interactions and
understanding the complex relationship between weather,
climate, water, and ecosystems. He'll be able to share with us
how he has utilized Federal climate information in his
research, and how State-based systems like the Mesonet are
factoring in climate risks and being used by on-the-ground
decisionmakers. Specially, Dr. Basara can speak to how the
agriculture industry has been at the forefront of adapting to
climate and weather risks.
Oklahoma is just one example of a State taking the lead.
But as my colleagues from Iowa and Florida will tell you, not
everyone is facing the same risks. Soil precipitation data from
Oklahoma doesn't do much good for rising water levels in the
Florida Everglades. That's why I'm hopeful today's discussion
will focus on what information and data localities need, not
just increasing bureaucracy with another government agency or
service. Through Federal-led partnerships with academics,
States, private industry, we can identify what information is
most needed and then work to provide it in a cost-effective,
resourceful way.
Thank you, Chairwoman Sherrill, for hosting this hearing,
and I yield back the balance of my time.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Bice follows:]
Thank you, Chairwoman Sherrill. I'm looking forward to this
first Subcommittee hearing, as well as a productive
relationship throughout this entire Congress.
There are few states who would benefit more from a better
understanding of weather and climate than Oklahoma. We're home
to 86,000 farms that feed and clothe our state, our nation, and
the world. Entire families' livelihoods depend on long-term and
short- term weather patterns, so any future variations
resulting from a changing climate need to be effectively
communicated to them.
Arguably the most important component of any farmer's
operation, and a topic of conversation today, is precipitation.
It's common sense that too little rain results in a drought and
farmers will have lower yields as a result. But people often
overlook that too much rain, either in frequency or volume,
also present problems to crop production. Precisely predicting
both high and low precipitation informs what crops to plant and
when to harvest.
Therefore, accurate and trustworthy data, along with a
variety of other information, is essential to an entire
industry and many states' main economic driver. And due to the
unique geography of individual states, a mix of federal and
local services is ideal. It's not a one size fits all puzzle.
Currently the federal government, through the National
Weather Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), operates Atlas 14, which provides
precipitation frequency estimates that become the standard for
relevant regulation, permits and recommended best practices.
States use this information for standards in designing,
building and operating infrastructure to withstand the forces
of heavy precipitation and floods.
At the same time, many states have recognized the need for
additional data and have dedicated their own resources to
protect lives and properties with accurate forecasts and
predictions. There is no better example than Oklahoma, where
two of the state's premier universities--Oklahoma State
University and the University of Oklahoma--have long histories
of researching weather patterns. The National Weather Center--
the nation's leading facility in researching climate and
weather--is based in Norman, Oklahoma.
Additionally, you'll find no more valued state resource
than the Oklahoma Mesonet. Founded as a partnership between OSU
and OU, the Mesonet takes weather observations every 5 minutes,
then transmits this data to a central processing facility,
which in turn puts it out to the public 5 to 10 minutes later.
With one Mesonet station in each of Oklahoma's 77 counties,
collecting data 24 hours per day, year-round, weather events
like thunderstorms, wind gusts, heatbursts, and drylines can't
go undetected and wreak havoc on an unsuspecting farm or ranch.
I look forward to hearing from Dr. Jeff Basara, a professor
and researcher at the University of Oklahoma. His research is
focused on land-atmosphere interactions and understanding the
complex relationship between weather, climate, water, and
ecosystems. He will be able to share with us how he has
utilized federal climate information in his research, and how
state-based systems like the Mesonet are factoring in climate
risks and being used by on-the-ground decision makers.
Specifically, Dr.
Basara can speak to how the agriculture industry has been
at the forefront of adapting to climate and weather risks.
Oklahoma is just one example of a state taking the lead.
But as my colleagues from Iowa and Florida will tell you, not
everyone is facing the same risks. Soil precipitation data from
Oklahoma doesn't do much good for rising water levels in
Florida's Everglades.
That is why I am hopeful today's discussion will focus on
what information and data localities need, not just increasing
bureaucracy with another government agency or service. Through
federal-led partnerships with academics, states, and private
industry, we can identity what information is most needed and
then work to provide it in a cost effective, resourceful way.
Thank you, Chairwoman Sherrill, for hosting this hearing
and I yield back the balance of my time.
Chairwoman Sherrill. Thank you, Ranking Member Bice.
We're also excited to have the Full Committee Ranking
Member Mr. Lucas with us today. The Chair now recognizes the
Ranking Member for an opening statement.
Mr. Lucas. Thank you, Chairwoman Sherrill, and of course
Chairwoman Johnson, for bringing together this excellent panel
and hearing. I look forward to seeing the productive work of
this Subcommittee as we move further into the 117th Congress.
I also want to take a moment and recognize the new Ranking
Member of the Environment Subcommittee, Representative
Stephanie Bice. Like me, she is an Oklahoman who has seen
extreme weather events up close and personal. Therefore, she
recognizes the critical role of advanced weather prediction and
forecasting, something this Committee has long prioritized. I
have no doubt she will be a great voice for Oklahoma and the
entire U.S. weather enterprise.
And speaking of the U.S. weather enterprise, this hearing
is particularly focused on two bills that have the potential to
update the data and information we collect regarding weather
events. The PRECIP and FLOODS Acts amend the Weather Research
and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017, legislation that I
introduced that was later signed into law. While I welcome next
steps to build off the lifesaving policies of the Weather Act,
I caution against inflating this to establishing a federalized
climate service.
An important pillar of the Weather Act was directing NOAA
to partner with the private sector for weather data collection
used in its forecasts. It's because of the Weather Act, NOAA
currently has a clear vision and flexibility when it comes to
acquiring weather and climate data. Isolating these efforts to
a new, duplicative service only serves to create more red tape
and hurdles to our budding weather industry.
It's also important to note that NOAA is currently a
climate service, providing information and research to prepare
for and adapt to climate variability and change. This is
primarily done through the Regional Integrated Sciences and
Assessments (RISA) program and the Regional Climate Centers,
both of which are focused on community-level information and
risk.
So before we rush to create a new office, I want to hear
from our expert panel on what is currently being provided by
the Federal Government when it comes to climate risk and
weather. And if there are deficiencies or gaps, we're here to
help make sure the communities' needs are being met, hopefully
through existing channels. We have an obligation to provide our
citizens the most accurate information on climate and weather
events so they can make informed decisions for their own well-
being. I believe that is best done by maximizing our resources
through partnerships with the private sector and academic
institutions.
Thank you, Madam Chair, and I yield back the balance of my
time.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Lucas follows:]
Thank you, Chairwoman Sherrill and Chairwoman Johnson, for
bringing together this excellent panel and hearing. I look
forward to seeing the productive work of this subcommittee as
we move further into the 117th Congress.
I also want to take a moment and recognize the new Ranking
Member of the Environment Subcommittee, Rep. Stephanie Bice.
Like me, she is an Oklahoman who has seen extreme weather
events up close and personal. Therefore, she recognizes the
critical role of advanced weather prediction and forecasting--
something this Committee has long prioritized. I have no doubt
she will be a great voice for Oklahoma and the entire U.S.
weather enterprise.
And speaking of the U.S. weather enterprise, today's
hearing is partially focused on two bills that have the
potential to update the data and information we collect
regarding weather events. The PRECIP and FLOODS Acts amend the
Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017--
legislation I introduced that was later signed into law. While
I welcome next steps to build off the life-saving policies in
the Weather Act, I caution against inflating this to
establishing a federalized climate service.
An important pillar of the Weather Act was directing NOAA
to partner with the private sector for weather data collection
used in its forecasts. It's because of the Weather Act that
NOAA currently has a clear vision and flexibility when it comes
to acquiring weather and climate data. Isolating these efforts
to a new, duplicative service only serves to create more red
tape and hurdles to our budding weather industry.
It's also important to note that NOAA is currently a
climate service, providing information and research to prepare
for and adapt to climate variability and change. This is
primarily done through their Regional Integrated Sciences and
Assessments (RISA) program and Regional Climate Centers, both
of which are focused on community level information and risk.
So before we rush to create another office, I want to hear
from our expert panel on what is currently being provided by
the federal government when it comes to climate risk and
weather. And if there are deficiencies or gaps, we are here to
help and make sure community needs are being met, hopefully
through existing channels.
We have an obligation to provide our citizens the most
accurate information on climate and weather events so that they
can make informed decisions for their own well-being. I believe
that is best done by maximizing our resources through
partnerships with the private sector and academic institutions.
Thank you Madam Chair and I yield back my time.
Chairwoman Sherrill. Thank you. And if there are Members
who wish to submit additional opening statements, your
statements will be added to the record at this point.
[The prepared statement of Chairwoman Johnson follows:]
Thank you, Chairwoman Sherrill, for holding this important
hearing today.Good morning and thanks to all our witnesses for
being here. As we heard at last month's climate hearing,
climate change is impacting many facets of our society, and the
time to make adaptation and mitigation decisions is now. It is
vital that decision makers who are responsible for preparing
our communities to adapt to and withstand the effects of
climate change, both today and in the future, have the most up
to date and relevant climate information possible.
As we often discuss on this Committee, the Federal
government has a key role in investing in climate science,
observations, and models that lead to robust climate data and
information. But just having the science and data alone is not
sufficient; it is important to translate that science and data
into tools and technical support to help decision makers make
appropriate adaptation and mitigation decisions. Climate
services encompass that translation of climate data into
actionable, relevant information.
There are many sources of Federal climate information and
services that are freely available to the public, including
several at agencies such as NOAA, USDA, and USGS. However,
these programs are fragmented across the Federal government
making it hard for communities to know where to turn when it
comes time to make decisions. There is a clear need for
coordination of these climate services at the Federal level.
Actionable climate information and services are critically
important for small, rural, frontline, or otherwise underserved
communities. Given the often-disproportionate impacts of
climate change on underserved communities, access to these
climate services is not something that can be left up to a
community's ability to pay. Every community across our country
deserves a level playing field when it comes to utilizing the
highest quality climate information and decision support to
help prepare them for future climate risk. The Federal
government has a key role to play in ensuring equitable access
to climate services for every American.
I look forward to today's discussion with this panel of
expert witnesses to better understand what the end users of
climate data and services need from the Federal government to
help make the critical decisions that incorporate future
climate risk.
Chairwoman Sherrill. At this time I would like to
introduce our witnesses. Our first witness is Dr. Richard Moss.
Dr. Moss is a Senior Scientist at the Joint Global Change
Research Institute and a Nonresident Fellow of the Andlinger
Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University.
He has published research on climate scenarios, adaptation, and
decisionmaking support. Dr. Moss currently chairs the Convening
Board for the Science for Climate Action Network, which is
committed to improving the use of science to more effectively
respond to climate change.
Our next witness is Beth Gibbons. Ms. Gibbons is the
Executive Director of the American Society of Adaptation
Professionals (ASAP). In this role, she has strengthened the
capacity of adaptation in individuals and organizations,
accelerated development of the adaptation field, and played a
key role in mapping the movement of climate data from its
production to its use. Ms. Gibbons has additional experience
with climate science from previously serving as Program Manager
of the NOAA Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessment Center
of the Great Lakes Region and as Director of the University of
Michigan's Climate Center.
Our third witness is Dr. Jeffrey Basara. Dr. Basara is the
Executive Associate Director of Hydrology and Water Security
Program at the University of Oklahoma and an Associate
Professor of the University of Oklahoma's School of Meteorology
and School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science. His
research focuses on precipitation extremes, land atmosphere
interactions, and the development of observational and modeling
strategies.
Our final witness is Liz Williams Russell. Ms. Russell is
the Climate Justice Program Director at Foundation for
Louisiana (FFL) where she has leveraged $54 million toward
climate justice planning, managed a public adaptation planning
process, supported water workforce training and certification
programs, and advanced research on the coastal climate trends
affecting Louisiana.
As our witnesses should know, you will each have five
minutes for your spoken testimony. Your written testimony will
be included in the record for the hearing. When you all have
completed your spoken testimony, we will begin with questions.
Each Member will have five minutes to question the panel, and
we will start with Dr. Moss.
TESTIMONY OF DR. RICHARD MOSS, SENIOR SCIENTIST,
PACIFIC NORTHWEST NATIONAL LABORATORY'S
JOINT GLOBAL CHANGE RESEARCH INSTITUTE
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND,
CHAIR, CONVENING BOARD, SCAN,
AND NON-RESIDENT FELLOW,
ANDLINGER CENTER, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
Dr. Moss. Good morning, and thank you, Subcommittee
Chairwoman Sherrill, Subcommittee Ranking Member Bice, Full
Committee Ranking Member Lucas, and Members of the
Subcommittee. I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you
today. I note my comments represent my views and not those of
the Department of Energy.
Over my career I've looked at climate information issues
from many angles both in science and applications. I've also
helped coordinate Federal research as the Director of the
Office for the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP)
under Presidents Clinton and Bush. I've contributed to local,
national, and international assessments, and have been a staff
member at several NGO's (non-governmental organizations)
working on climate action. I've seen several promising Federal
approaches to climate services fail after confronting a wide
range of foreseen and unforeseen challenges. Today, I want to
highlight some ideas and principles that could contribute to
success.
There is a clear opportunity for Federal leadership.
Currently, climate services are provided by many different
entities, including both Federal agencies and nonFederal
agencies such as regional networks, university centers, NGO's,
and private-sector firms. This structure has many advantages.
The diversity of providers reflects the diversity of local,
regional, sectoral, and institutional contexts where climate
action needs to be taken. Non-Federal providers have developed
trusted relationships with users, which will be critical to
ensure information is trusted and put into practice. They are
well-placed to integrate climate science with detailed local
knowledge.
Greater Federal action is needed to take more of a
leadership role and create a new framework that improves our
existing distributed system and adds five things: strong
governance framework with clear lines of communication and
authority; findable, accessible, and usable data and
information; support for many types of technical assistance and
engagement; ongoing research and processes for learning from
experience; and finally, sufficient resources to support strong
governance and provide incentives to participate. My written
testimony addresses each of these, but for reasons of time,
today, I will focus on just three.
First, requirements for governance. A critical first step
to improve climate services is to engage non-Federal players in
developing a strategy. Non-Federal and Federal actors must work
together to articulate a vision, mission, and goals, as well as
principles for setting priorities, participation, and quality
assurance. Effective governance will require new authority or a
coordination mechanism, as well as strong nonpolitical standing
oversight. Several reports, including the 2016 Government
Accountability Office (GAO) study, highlight options. Whatever
option is used, the new entity will need to have sufficient
authority to set priorities and negotiate adjustments to agency
efforts. Furthermore, this effort should have a mechanism for
maintaining stability across administrations. Finally, direct
engagement with existing climate services networks and
providers and with local-to-regional users must be sustained.
Second, technical assistance. Research has shown that
communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities
face even greater burdens from climate-change-related impacts
for a number of reasons, for example, because they
disproportionately live in more vulnerable areas. If our system
for climate services is to contribute to realizing our ideals
as a nation, it will need to include deep engagement with these
communities, as well as substantial funding for technical
assistance and other measures to ensure all have access to
needed information and support irrespective of their ability to
pay.
Finally, with respect to the need for research and
assessment, while our understanding of climate change and its
impacts on society has advanced rapidly, support for research
at agencies like the Department of Energy, NOAA, NASA (National
Aeronautics and Space Administration), and other agencies that
participate in the USGCRP must increase if we are to continue
improving knowledge that is relevant at the local level where
most solutions will be implemented.
More support is also needed for solutions-oriented
research. My written statement and an underlying report
describe one aspect, how to evaluate practical experience
through a well-organized method for learning by doing. This
method could be incorporated into a national climate
information system, the National Climate Assessment (NCA), and/
or pending legislation on flooding and extreme events that
we've heard about for this Committee.
In conclusion, I applaud the Committee for recognizing the
country's urgent need to better coordinate and accelerate the
delivery of climate services to address glowing climate
impacts. I hope that my testimony has provided some helpful
insights as you work to address this challenge. Thank you again
for the opportunity to testify. I look forward to your
questions.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Moss follows:]
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Chairwoman Sherrill. Thank you, Dr. Moss.
Next, we have Ms. Gibbons.
TESTIMONY OF MS. BETH GIBBONS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF ADAPTATION PROFESSIONALS
Ms. Gibbons. Good morning, Subcommittee Chairwoman
Sherrill, Subcommittee Ranking Member Bice, Ranking Member--
Ranking Committee Member Lucas, and Members of the Committee.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify about the state of
climate change adaptation, the role of Federal agencies, and
the opportunities and obligations we have before us to use our
collective action to create more resilient communities.
My name is Beth Gibbons, and I serve as the Executive
Director of the American Society of Adaptation Professionals. I
live in southeast Michigan on the ancestral lands of the
Anishinaabe people, the Three Fires people who are Odawa,
Ojibwe, and Potawatomi and Wyandot, in a place that today is
called Ypsilanti, Michigan. I've spent the last 20 years
working on community development and a decade focused
specifically on climate change adaptation in the United States.
In my career it's been a privilege to serve as a U.S. Peace
Corps volunteer, the Program Manager for the NOAA RISA program
of the Great Lakes Region, and the Director of University of
Michigan's Climate Center.
When I left working in the public sector, I did so because
I saw an acute need for coordination and support to the growing
ranks of climate adaptation professionals across North America.
As recently as 10 years ago, there was no U.S. organization
focusing on accelerating and standardizing the climate change
adaptation field and practice. But thankfully, that's no longer
the case.
ASAP connects and supports climate change adaptation and
resilience professionals to advance innovative and just
adaptation across North America. Successful adaptation is
holistic and requires coordination from the Federal to the
local level and across multiple sectors and disciplines. Gone
is the time when we can attempt to deliver single-issue
solutions to our complex communities-challenges.
And the adaptation field is full of leaders and
changemakers with diverse backgrounds and types of expertise.
The thread that connects all of us is the adaptation--is ASAP's
definition of adaptation professionals, those who integrate
future climate information into their day-to-day work. ASAP
members have integrated updated rain data into rural and urban
runoff models to better understand the impact of climate change
on sensitive ecosystems like Saginaw Bay. Our members built a
regional climate collaborative in southeast Florida to share
climate information and reach consensus on planning and design
standards for an economically and ecologically interconnected
region.
Adaptation professionals worked with public health
officials in Illinois and States across the Midwest to
integrate relevant climate information into known public health
concerns, developing climate health impact reports to help
States and communities prevent the worst impacts from climate
change being recognized.
And finally, ASAP members are working today with
corporations in pushing international institutions to consider
how community resilience and equity can be part of public
disclosure recommendations and couple corporate and community
solutions.
In order for climate adaptation and resilience to be
successful, we need the Federal Government to play a critical
role in the development and dissemination of locally relevant
climate data and information. However, it does not stop there.
Climate change adaptation is a rapidly growing and innovative
professional practice. To grow this profession and industry, we
need to better understand the needs of the existing workforce
and provide education and technical support to train people to
do this important work. The climate adaptation profession is
standardizing its values and practices in new adaptation
programs, including a Federal climate service should align with
these field-spanning standards.
There are strong networks in place across tribes at
national, regional, and metropolitan levels, which are vehicles
for disseminating best practice, providing peer support, and
building regional governance strategies to support adaptation
and mitigation policy and practice. These same networks must
inform the design of a new climate service and be vehicles for
delivering information, service, grants, and other program
elements.
A robust climate adaptation and resilience marketplace is
emerging, and there are important roles for the Federal
agencies and programs to play to ensure service providers and
service seekers from all economic and racial backgrounds have
access to the same high-quality, actionable climate data and
information.
So I'm heartened by the renewed energy and enthusiasm of
this Committee and the whole Biden-Harris Administration to
address the impact of climate change on people across the
United States. And while I'm heartened with this new
enthusiasm, I'll close today with a request that that
enthusiasm for action be met with earnest intention and effort
to learn what's needed to accelerate action from the adaptation
professionals working on this topic every day and from the
communities actively employing adaptation and resilience
strategies to combat the dire impacts of climate change.
At ASAP, it's all about the people, the people in the
communities that we serve and the professionals of today and
tomorrow who are seeking to make our country more resilient.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Gibbons follows:]
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Chairwoman Sherrill. Wow, you ended right on the dot. That
does my military heart good.
OK. Next, we have Dr. Basara.
TESTIMONY OF DR. JEFFREY B. BASARA, DIRECTOR,
KESSLER ATMOSPHERIC AND ECOLOGICAL FIELD STATION,
EXECUTIVE ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR,
HYDROLOGY AND WATER SECURITY PROGRAM,
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA
Dr. Basara. Good morning, Subcommittee Chair Sherrill,
Subcommittee Ranking Member Bice, Committee Ranking Member
Lucas, and Members of the Committee. Thank you for the honor
and privilege of testifying today. I'm also grateful to both
the majority and minority staff, along with Dr. Kelvin
Droegemeier, for their insight and assistance in preparing for
this Subcommittee hearing. While I am not speaking directly on
behalf of the University of Oklahoma, I am testifying today in
my roles as an academic, as a researcher, as an administrator,
a teacher, and advisor of matters of science related to
weather, climate, water, and ecosystems.
And this topic of climate services is critically important
and relevant across the spectrum of socioeconomic sectors that
form the foundation of the United States. Weather and climate
is one of the truly few processes that impact every human. In
my career I've seen firsthand how the collection and
dissemination of weather and climate information has a tangible
impact on the citizens we serve spanning all communities,
urban, rural, and everyone in between.
As an example, because of my research and associated
efforts in the Great Plains of the United States, I have been
able to directly engage agriculture producers through a variety
of onsite and virtual workshops and events. Typically, I focus
on education related to the topics of drought excessive
precipitation, and I share the latest science that helps us to
understand the development and evolution of these topics,
especially as related to the area of the Great Plains, and
specifically to agriculture.
Inevitably, my first question from the audience,
regardless of time of year or location, is always along a
consistent theme. What will the conditions be 2, 4, 6 months
from now? In other words, they want to know what the weather
and climate conditions can be expected in the foreseeable
future because that impacts local productivity and along with
overall market demand. And answering that question is a
critical challenge given the many weather and climate processes
that play a role in impacting local, regional, and national
communities within that window of time.
We've all seen the impacts of severe weather, landfalling
hurricanes, excessive rainfall, flooding, drought, heat waves,
and even more recently, extended cold snaps. The cost of
extreme events have been steadily increasing in terms of
billion-dollar events in the United States. In 2020 alone, we
saw as a country 22 events with a price tag from these events
alone of nearly $100 billion.
These large events capture the bulk of the attention, but
local communities and their end-users are often impacted in
subtle ways that are also significant. I was reading today in
the Chicago Tribune and Jeff Kirwan, who is on the Board of
Directors for the Illinois Farm Bureau, is quoted as saying
that we do see more severe--we do seem to see more severe
weather, more dynamic rainfalls, dryer spells. He continued
that the future, when you look at it--look into that crystal
ball, is a whole bunch of uncertainty. That's their story. And
here and at the same time in Oklahoma today agricultural
producers are walking their fields, are in the process of
determining what the impact of a late-season freeze just this
morning means to their 2021 livelihoods.
The United States is a key global contributor of weather
and climate data collection through a variety of observing
systems on the ground and spaceborne. Such observations serve
as the backbone for data sets used to determine past, present,
and future states of weather and climate processes from local
to global scales. And as such, these data sets are associated
with applications that are inherently valuable to end-users
across a wide spectrum of socioeconomic sectors here in the
United States and around the world. However, we need Federal
support to provide this information in a way that strongly
considers the perspective of the end-users involved.
Certainly, it all begins with maintaining support and
expanded support of our environmental data collection efforts
at all levels, especially at the Federal level. We also need to
identify gaps and resources while strengthening support for the
existing web of Federal to State to local community connections
that serve to disseminate critical climate information to end-
users. Finally, timing and trust matter. What we provide must
be trustworthy. Otherwise, it is of limited to no value to our
end-users.
In closing, we continue to face significant looming
challenges as related to weather and climate in the United
States, and I sincerely appreciate the desire of the
Subcommittee to address this challenge. At the same time, we
have local, State, and Federal capacity to tackle these
challenges, and that's an opportunity to impact the lives and
livelihoods of our end-users and the stakeholders from our
local to our global communities.
Thank you very much. I look forward to your questions.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Basara follows:]
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Chairwoman Sherrill. Thank you. And our final witness
today is Ms. Russell.
TESTIMONY OF MS. LIZ WILLIAMS RUSSELL,
CLIMATE JUSTICE PROGRAM DIRECTOR,
FOUNDATION FOR LOUISIANA
Ms. Russell. Chairwoman Sherrill, Ranking Members Bice and
Lucas, and Members of the Subcommittee and Committee, thank you
for the opportunity to testify regarding the need for a
strengthened Federal role in addressing climate change.
I encourage thoughtful investment and provision of
authority for coordinated risk information and climate services
that center the needs of the Nation's frontline communities
while creating equitable and sustainable pathways to
holistically address climate impacts. We must enhance and
develop replicable and scalable approaches while building
generational capacity for long-term positive change.
I'm the Climate Justice Program Director from the
Foundation for Louisiana. We are a catalyst for justice. FFL
invests in communities and ideas, builds partnerships, and
transforms policies and systems for an equitable, stronger
Louisiana.
Louisiana is on the frontlines of climate change and is
necessarily developing solutions to address the climate crisis
both through adaptation and emissions mitigation measures.
Louisiana has lost over 2,000 square miles of land since the
1930's. Since 2005, every one of our 64 parishes has been under
at least one if not four, five, or six Federal flood
declarations. Residents with resources are moving to areas they
perceive as higher and safer grounds, shifting local tax
revenue and influencing rippling climate impacts in our
communities.
Within areas losing population amidst depreciating
property values and loss of amenities, we see a decline in
ability to maintain social services and lost capacity to invest
in existing and new infrastructure to support communities or
mitigate risk. In areas gaining population, schools and traffic
swell while new development expands without regard for sea
level rise and increasing flood risk. These are mere entry
points into a dialog of climate impacts already being faced by
our communities.
Without strategic and intentional action, climate change
and our institutional responses to it will exacerbate
inequities. Drawing on my experiences and those of communities
I serve in Louisiana, I believe specific items need to be
center of focus for Federal resources and action. In Louisiana
and elsewhere, access to localized information and technical
assistance varies dramatically across jurisdictions. This
access is dependent on local revenue streams and socioeconomic
conditions with a tendency to manifest institutionalized
disparities as variations in local capacity to address
challenges or create opportunities. Each time a seemingly
helpful government official shows up to share projections of a
given existential crisis, residents and constituencies without
the financial means to address those calamities can often feel
increasingly helpless.
Created by FFL, LEAD the Coast is a comprehensive
leadership, education, and advocacy development program
designed to equip resident leaders with tools they need for
effective civic engagement, increasing the capacity of local
people and institutions most impacted by climate change.
Replicated nationally and supported at the Federal level, a
similar program would allow prioritization and investment in
the places that have seen systematic underinvestment and ensure
any information regarding climate hazards brought to
constituents is presented alongside tangible pathways to
actually tackle the risks, grow practices that center the
expertise of communities as leaders, designers, and
decisionmakers to cultivate innovative and sustained response
to this generational challenge.
When considering the siting of future investments to
reduce risk and improve adaptive capacity for communities, many
Federal agencies utilize cost-benefit analyses that rely
heavily on racialized real estate valuation practices that
improperly tip the scales regarding who experiences the costs
and the benefits. Across Federal agencies, replace metrics that
exacerbate the existing imbalance of government resource
distribution; prioritize marginalized communities, and ensure
that Federal projects and policies illustrate government
follow-through.
Agencies most familiar with climate change and impacts
don't systematically engage with agencies whose assets,
programming, and investment decisions might be relevant.
Improve direct communication, coordination, and collaboration
between data and modeling entities and those who provide
services to communities and government. Develop a structure of
staffing, funding, and decisionmaking authority so that
cooperation is iterative and ongoing, evolving with experience
of impacts on the ground.
I'm from New Orleans, and my family is spread across south
Louisiana. My roots here engender a passion and a commitment to
defend and champion the places I love. The evolving climate
impacts are real and personal and vast. Residents from across
the political spectrum acknowledge ongoing climate change, and
still, few Americans understand the depth and breadth of
climate impacts to everything we care about. Climate change is
not a future scenario here. I encourage you to advance efforts
and investments that treat your constituents with dignity and
acknowledged the humanity in all of us.
I appreciate this opportunity to speak with you today.
Thank you for your time. I look forward to your questions.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Russell follows:]
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Chairwoman Sherrill. Well, thank you very much. Thank you
to all of our witnesses.
Before we proceed, I'd like to bring the Subcommittee's
attention to 12 letters for the record. These letters express
support for improved investment in and coordination of Federal
climate services. The letters represent the broad
constituencies urging Federal action on this issue, including
global change research organizations, private-sector providers
of climate services, the adaptation practitioner community, and
local leaders that focus on climate adaptation and mitigation.
Without objection, I am placing these documents in the
record.
At this point, we will begin our first round of questions.
I recognize myself for 5 minutes.
So to begin, Federal and non-Federal organizations are
already providing on-the-ground technical assistance and tools
to help communities understand and act on their climate risk.
For example, New Jersey is supported by the Consortium on Risk
in the urban Northeast, which is one of NOAA's 11 Regional
Integrated Sciences and Assessment centers. We're also lucky to
have access to the State-funded New Jersey Climate Change
Resource Center at Rutgers, which provides flood maps and
visualizations of climate risks to infrastructure and critical
assets across New Jersey.
Can each of the witnesses discuss the fragmented nature of
the available tools and technical assistance to local
decisionmakers? What is the Federal Government's role in
coordinating diverse services across regions and sectors so
that key constituencies know where to go to get the information
they need?
Ms. Gibbons. I'd be happy to--oh, sorry. Sorry. Richard,
do you want to start?
Dr. Moss. Well, I can just offer maybe a little bit of a
description of the landscape that helps to explain the
diversity of sources and why it can be confusing. You know, you
have a range of Federal agencies, not just NOAA, that provide a
lot of climate-related information and modeling. You have 11
NOAA RISAs, eight Department of Interior Climate Adaptation
Science Centers (CASC), and eight USDA (Department of
Agriculture) Climate Hubs. In addition, there's a series of
international activities like the World Climate Research
Program, which is perhaps the most definitive in developing the
Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, which is now in its
sixth phase, that serves as a critical source of all of the
kind of climate scenario information that people analyze. A
variety of NGO's also provide climate information through
activities like the American Geophysical Union's Thriving Earth
Exchange. And then there are academic centers and partnerships,
and finally, private-sector firms.
Now, when I was recently on a leave of absence and working
in New York, one of the first questions I was asked when I
arrived and started working on my project was by State agencies
who were interested in knowing what criteria could they use to
evaluate different proposals for climate services or to decide
which data sets that they should use. And I'll just say based
on that experience, just as the anecdote in New York, there is
a lot of confusion among users about where to turn. And I think
that this is in fact one of the things that we hope a more
unified Federal effort that doesn't replace or try to set up a
single source for all information but that serves as a point of
contact and helps direct people to the appropriate information
would be an excellent choice. It's just that there's no one
model that captures all features of the Earth system or that in
all places can provide the right information. The average
hottest and driest model is not the hottest and driest model
everywhere. There's a lot of variability. And so you can't just
pick one model and hope that it's going to do the job.
Ms. Gibbons. I would just respond to your question
regarding the user perspective. And I think that Richard did a
fine job articulating the different agencies. And I should say
that none of these agencies and their programs are covering the
same jurisdictions at the same time in the same way, so the 11
RISAs, the eight CASCs, the way that the EPA (Environmental
Protection Agency) regions and FEMA (Federal Emergency
Management Agency) regions, each treat the country as a
patchwork, and it's very confusing for people from the ground
up to look at that patchwork and then identify what is the
pathway to service.
And so users often will end up pursuing a pathway to
information based on what they might have already experienced.
If they've worked with HUD (Housing and Urban Development),
they try to go through HUD. If they've had experience with NOAA
through a RISA, they go to the RISA. If they have experience
with the EPA through consent decrees or other kind of
functions, they go to EPA. And because of that, it's important
that we have coordination across the Federal agencies so that
we're all receiving the same information. I think it also makes
the case for a Federal system to coordinate service so that it
isn't just on an individual agency to touch with somebody else
but there's an entity that is ensuring that coordination takes
place so that people can experience a--kind of a no-wrong-door
policy but then has a strong governance to ensure in fact when
you come through that door you're going to reach someone who
can connect you to what you need.
Chairwoman Sherrill. Well, thank you very much. Are there
currently enough Federal resources dedicated to working with
communities to ensure they have the climate risk information
they need? So it sounds like we've talked a little bit about
the coordination problem, but beyond that, are there enough
Federal resources available, simply not coordinated well?
Ms. Gibbons. No. No.
Dr. Moss. Could I----
Ms. Gibbons. Go ahead.
Dr. Moss. I was just going to ask for just one
clarification. When you say resources, Chairwoman Sherrill, do
you mean financial resources or are you talking about
information resources or technical support or all of it?
Chairwoman Sherrill. So I'm talking about all of the
above. It sounds that we have quite a few resources dedicated
to this. There seems to be a coordination problem. Is there,
beyond a coordination problem, also a resource problem?
Dr. Moss. Yes. I would say so, and I'll be very brief so
others can also add their points of view. But we simply don't
have enough resources to do the kind of customization that we
need to make the data relevant at local levels. In addition,
there simply is not enough support to provide technical support
for communities in understanding how this information relates
to the problems that they have or the things that they're
trying to solve. You can get data on temperature and
precipitation, but what does it actually mean for how you might
have to change your cropping cycles to identify where things
are beginning to flood? So there's also not the technical
support necessary, so we definitely need more resources for all
those things.
Chairwoman Sherrill. And I apologize, it looks like my
clock has expired. I wasn't keeping track about as well as I
should have as the Chair, so I'm going to move on to our
Ranking Member, Ms. Bice. Do you have questions for the panel?
Ms. Bice. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Dr. Basara, you said during your time with the Oklahoma
Climatological Survey that you saw firsthand how the collection
and dissemination of weather and climate information has a
tangible impact on the citizens spanning all communities. Being
from Oklahoma myself, I want to dive into this a bit more.
Besides the obvious alerting people of an incoming tornado,
which is important in Oklahoma, how do people, agencies, and
services use this climate information?
Dr. Basara. Well, certainly while tornadoes are an
important part of our local weather and climate extremes,
actually, it's, you know, drought and too much precipitation
actually probably have more of an impactful role in the broad
scheme of things when we consider the impact of weather and
climate on our State.
And I think in my perspective working both within the
Oklahoma Climatological Survey and also working in the capacity
of an academic and working with end-users and especially
agriculture producers, the bottom line is, you know, especially
in our rural communities, this is a--climate services are
actually a very important component of that. And there's a link
actually between what happens at the Federal level down to the
State level, and we work--you know, I'm not a land-grant
university, but we have ag extension agents that actually work
on the ground with agriculture producers, and there's an
inherent link between all of those that are--that's vital terms
of providing information that makes decisionmaking possible at
that level.
The bottom line is these individuals want to know whether
climate information to make real decisions that affect their
livelihood and affect the commerce of the region. And so having
that is important, and the linkages in that chain are
important. And I just heard just yesterday of the need for
education in terms of getting more educated people that
understand the multidisciplinary aspects of weather, climate,
agriculture into a position where they can help end-users make
those informed decisions.
Ms. Bice. Well, and you characterize a community using
weather and climate information better than--or, I'm sorry,
would you characterize one community using weather and climate
information better than others? Obviously, a farmer is more
likely to know about the Mesonet capabilities than others, but
are there other people that are using this information
regionally that you've identified?
Dr. Basara. Oh, sure. I've seen the broad spectrum. And,
for example, we've had--we had a State representative one time
who wanted weather and climate information to make sure that
the local contractor that was pouring his foundation did so
when the temperatures weren't at too cold of a level, right? I
mean, it gets down into the nitty-gritty of all the details in
terms of being able to make real decisions about weather and
climate. And so certainly the rural communities benefit, but
our urban communities benefit as well. And we need to have
better decisionmaking that goes on there in terms of urban
planning, the dissemination and redistribution of water during
excessive precipitation events. All of that comes into play,
and that's where the linkages from local to Federal are really
important in providing a consistent theme.
I want to appreciate--or send my appreciation to the other
panel members who have mentioned this. A consistent theme is
important in establishing trust and trustworthy information
that moves from one end of that spectrum to the other. And it
can move both ways, and so we have to keep that dialog open,
available, and that's where the people are involved and that's
what's really important.
Ms. Bice. I'll just open this question up for any of the
panelists here. You know, it seems that technology and
innovation seems to be something that would be helpful in these
scenarios. Certainly 30 or 40 years ago it was very difficult
to identify a tornado coming through Oklahoma. Now you have
plenty of warning or you least have some heads up that there's
going to be issues. Talk a little bit about technology and how
that can improve forecasting and help communities as we see
some of these extreme weather conditions?
Dr. Basara. Well, just real quickly, I'll say that the
next generation of agricultural producers are more tech savvy
than others. Most all of them have one of these, right, have a
phone, and they are using real-time weather and climate
information literally from the machinery that they are using in
the fields to make decisions sometimes. And I think that that--
there is a critical role in providing information that can be
distributed across platforms that can be put literally into the
hands of end-users wherever they're at.
Ms. Bice. So investment is important?
Dr. Basara. Yes, absolutely.
Ms. Russell. I'll jump in here as well. Thanks for the
question, Representative Bice. I would say that we have
increasingly utilized the tools and developed the tools to look
at immediate climate disasters, both acute and chronic, but we
do not have the technology to visualize the other impacts that
those acute and chronic disasters cause to economic
opportunity, job access, transportation systems, healthcare
access, healthcare facilities, schools, on and on and on. And
so for me the investment really needs to be to develop and
bridge those disaster acute or chronic systems into the other
sectors that haven't begun to plan for a future of climate
impacts.
Ms. Bice. Thank you.
Ms. Russell. Thank you.
Ms. Bice. And, Madam Chair, I yield back.
Chairwoman Sherrill. Thank you so much. Now, I'll
recognize the Ranking Member of the Full Committee, Mr. Lucas,
for five minutes.
Mr. Lucas. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Dr. Basara, I liked your priority suggestion that we need
to increase our efforts in engaging and considering the needs
of end-users because if an end-user like an ag producer, as
we've been discussing, doesn't find the provided data
beneficial, it won't be used and ultimately becomes a waste of
time and money. We can't just assume that someone in the lab
knows exactly what someone in the field wants.
You mentioned that it was through research programs like
USDA's Great Plains Grazing Project that you've been able to
directly engage thousands of ag producers and end-users in
recent years. While you might not have been directly affiliated
with one, could you talk about your experience there and
compare it with how extension programs succeed in connecting
with end-users?
Dr. Basara. Yes, absolutely. So it's--the Great Plains
Grazing Project actually had extension from both Oklahoma and
Kansas involved, so I worked with both teams. And that's how I
ended up being connected with these end-users in the first
place. It was through their extension programs, which directly
brought me into places--for example, and I learned this a long
time ago, don't ever wear a tie if you're going to be talking
about weather and climate at a pole barn just outside of
Woodward, Oklahoma, right? And that is--helps establish trust
in the community, but that's also what these extension agencies
that do exist and that ties in the university systems as well
as the statewide systems, and that's where we get into this web
of infrastructure that already exists that is viable and does
have capacity, needs some strength and Federal support, but it
does have capacity already built within it to engage with those
individuals and to really establish a dialog and a back-and-
forth that is vital and important to--in solving these big
challenges that we deal with.
Mr. Lucas. Dr. Basara, the Association of Public and Land-
Grant Universities recently reported that 69 percent of the
buildings at land-grant universities are more than 25 years old
and need urgent upgrades to remain safe and useful. As I'm sure
you know, agriculture, food, and related industries contribute
$1.1 trillion to the American economy and supports about 22
million jobs I should say. And these contributions are made
possible by the cutting-edge innovation taking place through
research, education, and extension programs at colleges and
schools of agriculture like your employer, the University of
Oklahoma and my alma mater, Oklahoma State University.
So, Dr. Basara, I want to hear from you with all the
facilities you've interacted with and worked at, have you seen
this deferred maintenance backlog? Can you talk about what new
and upgraded infrastructure and facilities means for attracting
and training the next generation of scientific community?
Dr. Basara. Yes, so your point is very relevant. So I've
worked at both Federal agencies, you know, the great--the
Grazinglands Research Laboratories in El Reno, Oklahoma, or the
High Plains Research lab. That's a USDA facility and--just
outside of Amarillo and Bushland but also at the university
settings. And let's be honest. Many of those buildings that are
there that are being utilized right now and the infrastructure
is dated.
And I can speak to also here at the University of Oklahoma
I'm in two departments. We have had discussions in Civil
Engineering and Environmental Sciences that our lab space all
needs to be renovated in order to really attract good students,
in order to do the work that we need. Now, at the same time, I
work in a fabulous, fantastic facility that's new, that is a
resource for many, and that's the National Weather Center here
at--on the campus of the University of Oklahoma. And I can tell
you without question that we can recruit students to--that
become the next generation of scientists that are solving
problems, we can recruit students to this facility just because
of the facility. They want to see the facility, they want the
resources that are available.
And so the infrastructure does matter in terms of
producing the science, whether it's in a Federal lab or at a
university setting, and I think that, you know, investments
into infrastructure and into facilities does have a tangible
role in generating the next generation of scientists that are
going to be able to handle and tackle these big problems that
we are facing.
Mr. Lucas. And if I seem like a big proponent of the land
grants, you have to appreciate the fact that I find it to be
one of the great accomplishments in this country that when
President Lincoln signed the Morrell Act of 1862, it was the
first time you didn't have to be a person of wealth to attend a
university in the world. And we followed that with the 1890's
for African Americans. We followed that with the 1894 for
Native Americans. Investing in our legacy pieces that have
delivered such accomplishments is just something we need to
focus on.
With that, Madam Chair, thank you for the hearing, and I
yield back the balance of my time.
Chairwoman Sherrill. Thank you, Ranking Member Lucas.
So now I'm going to defer to Committee Counsel for the
order of recognition.
Staff. Ms. Bonamici is next.
Ms. Bonamici. Thank you so much. Thank you, Chair
Sherrill, the Committee Ranking Member Lucas, thank you.
Welcome to Ranking Member Bice. Oklahoma has been well-
represented on this Subcommittee when I first joined. It also
included then Representative, later NASA Administrator Jim
Bridenstine. Thank you especially to all the witnesses for your
expertise.
Climate science is an abstract. It informs the decisions
our constituents across the country make every day after the
previous Administration attempted to minimize the findings of
the Fourth National Climate Assessment, including by releasing
it over a holiday weekend. I would just like to amplify its
importance by sharing one finding on Twitter every day for six
weeks.
And what was interesting was the response. I heard from
local elected leaders, tribes, city planners, geologists,
engineers, and they all appreciated, No. 1, the regional focus,
which included an entire chapter specific to the Pacific
Northwest, and they also said they desperately needed more
climate data in a format that could be easily understood and
that is accessible to local decisionmakers on the ground.
Last year, I joined my colleagues on the Select Committee
on the Climate Crisis. We have Mr. Casten as well serving on
the Select Committee. We released our Comprehensive Climate
Action Plan, and it includes provisions to strengthen the NCA
and other climate reports, but it also includes a climate risk
information service to develop localized climate risk
information, which will include projections on floods,
wildfires, and other natural disasters. This approach will
better inform the development of resilience codes,
specifications, standards for our local communities.
Now I'm working to turn this recommendation into a
standalone bill, and I look forward to working with all of you
and soliciting your feedback. And I want to start with Dr.
Moss. In your testimony you noted that no single data set or
method is best available across all regions of the country, so
how can Congress better support the synthesis of existing
Federal research and assessments on climate risks and also
identify gaps to address the needs of our localities? And is
USGCRP the best entity to do this work and lead a Federal
climate service?
Dr. Moss. Great, thank you for the question. It's a very
central question, Congresswoman. And the point that you've made
is I don't think that it is a single-agency issue. I don't
think you can do it with existing authorities even in the
interagency process. I think you will have to act to establish
some kind of a new authority that has sufficient resources and
clout to work better across the agencies. You know, I think it
can work.
The issue with the U.S. Global Change Research Program is
the R, the research. It's, of course, the foundation for what
we need, but many of you are familiar with the phrase research
to operations. It's a continuum. Research is about creating
knowledge. Operations is about taking knowledge that we're
pretty confident in and using it. USGCRP agencies feel that
they're research agencies, and so I think that we really need
much more on the operations side in order to do this kind of
locally relevant synthesis and application.
Ms. Bonamici. Well, thank you, Dr. Moss. And that leads me
to my next question. You note the need for improved technical
assistance. You also highlighted the need for data and
information to be findable and accessible. So how can we
structure these opportunities to be more accessible, especially
to frontline communities?
Dr. Moss. Yes, thank you. Again, I think that underserved
communities are going to need funding and capacity even to
participate in developing proposals, for example, for funding.
I note that several States are beginning to offer funding for
resilience building, and there's going to be Federal funding
for resilience building. Even to put together the proposal
requires access to funding and to capacity that these groups
don't have.
We have a proposal in. We're waiting to hear back from it
to look at a number of specific communities across three States
to identify what are the capacities that they lack and then to
try to bring that knowledge forward to inform Federal programs
like FEMA and others that provide the sort of help to
communities to provide the right kind of support and resources.
Ms. Bonamici. Thank you. In my remaining half a minute,
Ms. Gibbons, is there anything you can add to that about making
the information and data more accessible, particularly----
Ms. Gibbons. Yes.
Ms. Bonamici [continuing]. To the frontline communities?
Ms. Gibbons. And I think the--your point about NCA3 having
really had a communication platform and NCA4 not having one is
really critical. And I talk about that in my full testimony. So
I think that when we create these products, it's not just
enough to have a well-researched report and then put it on the
shelf and hope somebody comes and finds it to read. We need to
have developed reports that are based on the priorities that
exist in communities and then bringing climate information into
those priorities in a way that becomes meaningful for them and
engages the communities from the research to the release to the
implementation of action that follows.
Ms. Bonamici. Absolutely. I see a lot of nodding heads.
And my time is expired, and I yield back the balance of my
time. Thank you.
Staff. Mr. Feenstra is next.
Mr. Feenstra. Thank you, Chair Sherrill and Ranking Member
Bice. Thank you to each of the witnesses for their testimony
and sharing their extensive research and opinions with us.
While researchers and scientists have worked hard to
gather and make climate data available to the public, there is
a need to ensure that data is easy to gather and interpreted
for those who need it. While I disagree that the new Federal
climate office is the most efficient and resourceful solution,
I do agree that the Federal system can be improved.
Dr. Basara, when dealing with the climate and weather,
accurate information is critical. Last year, my home State
suffered a very serious derecho, which you mentioned in your
testimony. That took the lives of Iowans and wiped out millions
of acres of cropland and infrastructure. Without the timely
weather alerts, even more lives could have been lost and more
damage done. It's just as important that we have accuracy in
weather detection for smaller storms, as they can cause serious
damage, and time preparation is at a premium.
The Department of Defense shared a report with Congress in
2019 which went into detail on how obstructions like buildings
can cause gaps in weather radar, potentially hiding the
emergence of tornadoes or making it look like flooding where it
is not necessarily there. Are you familiar with this
phenomenon, and can you explain its impact to the Committee?
Dr. Basara. I am familiar with the phenomenon. We actually
have a challenge with that here in Oklahoma as well with one of
our own operational weather radars in parts of northwest
Oklahoma. And any obstruction, any building that is put in the
way of basically one of these radars basically acts as a--what
we call beam blockage. You can't see accurately what's on the
other side of that structure. So that is a very important
issue. It's a very important role in terms of when we cite our
infrastructure in terms of weather and climate, you know,
resources, that they need to be placed and they need to be
maintained in a place where they can provide reliable
information.
And certainly in the case of weather radar, this is a
critical issue and is one issue that we need to address because
in order to protect lives and property--and that is what our
National Weather Service does and the many people that work
within that agency--in order to do that effectively, they have
to have tools that are effective.
Mr. Feenstra. Yes, I agree with that 100 percent. So how
can we mitigate--you can't mitigate--the buildings are already
up. I understand that. We have a lot of other things that are
going up in a fast pace, and windmills are a great thing and
stuff like this, but how can we move forward? Is there a way
that we can look at things before they get put up and saying,
hey, this is going to be a problem? Maybe a building or
windmill, whatever it might be, shouldn't be built in this
location, this area because it might impede what we're doing?
Dr. Basara. Progress is a challenge in some ways. And in
my past life with the Oklahoma Climatological Survey and the
Oklahoma Mesonet I helped install stations. That's what we did.
And, you know, property changes from time to time, and adjacent
property changes. You may have a great spot, but the next owner
changes, you know, that land is sold, and somebody else has a
different vision for that product.
I--preservation in terms of available space around our
resources is something that we should be considering, and
certainly we can look at the--at any particular site and
identify what the challenges might be and sort of a sphere of
influence of what needs to be, you know, kind of homogenous or
keep progress away just a little bit in order to maintain the
accuracy and the viability of the infrastructure that's in
place. So yes, we can do that.
At the same time, we have a lot of private land, and that
private land, you know, exchanges hands from time to time and
that poses a logistical challenge. But I--there are resources
that we can do, and we certainly--there's actions that we can
take, but there's also the--you know, the private portion of
this, and that can't be neglected either.
Mr. Feenstra. Yes, I got about 30 seconds left. Quickly,
do you see any technology moving forward that will better
initiate, to see things that--at a higher level, to see things
that are potentially happening that we can communicate quicker
and at a faster level? As storms move across the Midwest, we
see it coming, but we really can't identify some of the big
issues.
Dr. Basara. I'll speak real quickly to the fact that, you,
I'm not the expert in this but my colleagues at the university
are. And the concept of phased array radar and being able to
put that in place nationally would be a paradigm shift in our
ability to observe from a radar perspective the--any critical
and significant weather that may be happening at any given
location. So I think that would be at the top of my list,
especially from a radar standpoint.
Mr. Feenstra. Thank you so much, and I yield back.
Staff. Mr. Kildee is next.
Mr. Kildee. Thank you, and thank you, Chairwoman Sherrill,
for holding this hearing and for the witnesses for bringing
their really important and unique perspectives.
I want to go in a slightly different direction for a
moment and talk about maybe some of the support that
communities can get in taking meaningful action to deal with
issues around climate. Before I was in Congress I was in local
government for a really long time. For a good period of time I
was the county treasurer. And in that particular role I focused
a lot of my energy and time on how to help with sustainable
development in my region by breathing life into the stress of
vacant and abandoned properties in the urban core on the belief
that while there's all sorts of reason to do that in terms of
equity and development--I have to admit that I have had some
frustration that a focus on reusing urban land is often looked
at policy of urbanism when the truth of the matter is there's
development pressure that will cause us to continue to grow the
footprint of the built environment, which contributes to
climate change in the sense--and it's a marginal impact, but it
has an impact because the bigger the footprint of our built
environment, the more we generate in terms of greenhouse gases
and it's not a sustainable long-term approach. And it leaves a
lot of communities behind. And so we have this sort of once-in-
a-generation opportunity ahead of us through this
infrastructure package to try to find ways to breathe life into
the existing built environment where we've already made
substantial investments in infrastructure and other aspects of
civil society.
And so I'd like to get some thinking from the panel and
maybe most specifically Ms. Gibbons, who I know has, first of
all, connection to my home State obviously, but also as a
person focused on urban planning might have some thoughts on
how research and knowledge that could be developed at the
Federal level, could be shared, for example, with communities
that operate land banks that are in the business of trying to
contain development pressure from eating up more of our built
environment, taking up green fields and farmland, and reuse
existing land. Is there--do you have thoughts on that subject,
and is there a way that you think the Federal Government
through its research capacity could support some of that? I
have a bill, a bipartisan bill to establish a national land
bank network to do this in part, but I wonder if you have
thoughts on the knowledge that might be developed and shared to
support some of this effort.
Ms. Gibbons. I think that a national land bank is
something that could be an incredible asset to the work that
we're doing in community resilience across the country. I
certainly think that the Genesee Land Bank Authority that has
served Flint and served your district so well is a model for
the way partnerships can emerge between land banks and
municipalities.
I actually worked in 2012 on integrating adaptation and
resilient strategies into the Imagine Flint plan, and we looked
at what were the priorities of the city and ways in which we
might think about the vacant spaces in Flint and then prepare
to maintain some of them to reuse some of them to consolidate
residential spaces. And we did that through a really terrific
engagement program that was being run in the city.
All of that went off the table when the water crisis
broke, and we had to refocus our attention on the equity and
justice crisis that was ahead of us. And this is an example of
where we can't take one piece of work and separate it from the
others. We have to be prepared for communities to address
whatever the crisis is that comes up. I've recently been back
in Flint rebirthing that plan and talking about adaptation
strategies again.
I point this out because here is a place where we have
been thinking about that question but it's not happening in all
communities. It goes back to this problem, this patchwork quilt
of services that communities are receiving. In Michigan,
Michigan State University in their extension program is doing
tremendous adaptation and outreach work. They're doing it
coupled with ag extension. They've been working with the MABA,
the Michigan Agri-Business Association, as well as urban
justice organizations, tribal groups. But we see an
inconsistent delivery of service.
And so I think that there is a role for the Federal
Government to be playing to assess what is taking place and do
a really thorough assessment. Where is adaptation and
resilience happening? Where are there gaps? And who is going to
fill those gaps? Is it going to be a private service provider,
or is it someplace that we need to step in with federally
supported resources either through our universities or through
our Federal agencies or a new service?
Mr. Kildee. I know I would like to have Mr. Moss respond,
but I think I'm out of time. I appreciate that. And this is an
important area. I appreciate the Chair holding this hearing.
It's a subject we need to spend more time on, so thank you. I
yield back.
Staff. Mr. Gimenez is next.
Mr. Gimenez. Thank you. Thanks so much. I want to thank
our Chairwoman, Representative Sherrill, and then our Ranking
Member Bice for holding this hearing.
I'm interested from Mr. Basara, you talked about the
importance of accurate information, short-term, long-term, and
modeling. I'm really interested in modeling. I know somebody
said that the models have wide differences and that we really
can't point to one model. Is there a model that has been the
most accurate that we know of in predicting short-term and then
longer-term patterns here on Earth, especially in the United
States?
Dr. Basara. Well, I--first of all, I'll defer to Richard
in terms of the global climate models in that perspective. On
my end, we're constantly working on trying to--you know, from a
modeling standpoint, trying to simulate the atmospheres as
accurately as possible, especially in short terms of weather
timescales. Is there one model that works best in all cases and
all scenarios to forecast snow, to forecast heavy rain, to
forecast tornadoes, to forecast any of these processes? And the
answer to that really is no. It's not the United States versus
the European either.
There is--we--but we are advancing in the case--in the
sense that we're getting more consolidation in terms of our
understanding of physical processes, and sometimes that's
what's really important. What's missing in our own
understanding is we can't predict something we don't understand
sometimes.
And I think that there are some advancements on the
future, especially as we get from the weather into what we call
the subseasonal and the seasonal into what we call, you know,
obviously the climate. In real truth we have a pretty decent
ability to predict in the weather timescale, and certainly our
climate models have--while it ranges, there's a lot of
consensus. But in one of the areas of--I think of
predictability, but we are limited. And this gets into the
trust issue is in that 2- to 6-month window of the subseasonal
to seasonal we don't do very well.
Now, actually, efforts from this Committee as well have
really spurred on resource development and research into the
subseasonal to seasonal, and that's--I want to commend the
Committee for that because that's a really important part of
this whole process that we need to invest in to have better
predictability from weather through the subseasonal to seasonal
and into the climate scale.
Mr. Gimenez. It looks to me that weather, that predicting
the weather is--there's two sides of it. No. 1 is the short
term is what's the weather going to be tomorrow, how's it going
to affect my crops, do I have to put up my shutters, et cetera.
I live in a hurricane-prone area. And even though we may have a
higher-than-expected hurricane season, hurricanes are wherever
it hits and who knows where it's going to hit. And you can't
possibly predict that 6 months ahead of time. And so that's
very, very difficult.
Long-term trends, though, are also very important for us
in order to invest in what kind of infrastructure that we're
going to be investing in, how resilient does it have to be,
what do we expect the long-term prospects, in an area? And so
is there a consensus that we're heading back into an Eemian
period that we had, say, 130,000 years ago where the
temperatures were 2 to 4 degrees higher Celsius than they are
today? Is that the consensus of the scientific community?
Dr. Basara. Is that a question for me directly or for the
panel?
Mr. Gimenez. Yes, somebody. I just want to know. Is that
the consensus that we're heading there? And if we're headed
that way, then there has to be some kind of information as to
what happened during that time and especially in the United
States. What was the long-term impact of such a rise in
temperatures? What were beneficial and what were not
beneficial? Because from my understanding, the forest actually
grew more into the northern atmosphere area, today our tundra
were covered once by forests, and then we headed into a glacial
period, which we are coming out of I guess. We're in a inner
period right now. And that's information that we can use for
the long-term so that we can have our investments more match to
what we think are the long-term trends as a nation. And if
there are areas that are going to be changing, how can we
mitigate that and adapt to that as a nation?
OK. I guess nobody can answer that either. All right.
Thanks so much. I yield the balance of my time. Thank you.
Staff. Mr. Casten is next.
Mr. Casten. Thank you. Thank you to our Chair and Ranking
Member for organizing this Committee, and many thanks to our
witnesses.
Dr. Moss, I'd like to start with you. Since 2013, the GAO
has suggested that we should commit the Federal Government--we
should limit the Federal Government's exposure by better
managing climate risk. Two years ago they reported that we
haven't made much progress. I serve on the Financial Services
Committee and have been trying to draw as much attention as I
can to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's report on
managing climate risk that was released last year where they
noted in part emerging evidence suggests that lenders are
passing along riskier mortgages to the GSEs (government-
sponsored enterprises)--that is Fannie and Freddie--in part to
remove risk from their own books. The Federal guarantee of the
GSEs suggest that U.S. taxpayers may ultimately be on the hook
for pre-pandemic default risks associated with the impacts of
physical risk on collateral values. They make similar
observations about the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)
as a place where the private sector has an incentive and a
vehicle to offload their risk onto the Federal Government. I
should note that a lot of that risk is going to affect places
like Mr. Gimenez's district, the prior speaker.
Dr. Moss, can you identify some of the other climate risks
that the Federal Government is exposed to? And to the extent
you can, what should we be most focused on right now? Which are
the biggest hurdles?
Dr. Moss. Well, sir, I think you've done a really
comprehensive job of listing some of the really major risks
that I certainly worry about when it comes to the Federal
Government. I think that there could be huge impacts on
financial services, on our financial structure, huge impacts on
infrastructure when one thinks about transportation
infrastructure and the Federal responsibilities there, the fact
that so many airports are in fact quite near sea level along
the coast, that there's real risks, huge amounts of our
military infrastructure along the coasts that are going to be
exposed to climate risks and flooding, and the list goes on.
So I think that the Federal Government really needs a
organized and comprehensive approach to encourage each agency
to be assessing the vulnerabilities of its own assets and those
of its stakeholders that they're responsible for working with
and then bringing that information forward in a coordinated and
consistent way in order for you and the Congress and the
Federal Government and the Executive Office to be able to work
together to start to get your hands around some of those risks
because if we don't, they really are going to come back and be
a huge drag on our national competitiveness and economic
growth.
Mr. Casten. Well, I want to shift to Ms. Gibbons, but just
make an observation and maybe we can follow up afterwards that
what is so hard is that, you know, the reason I highlighted
those programs is that they exist where the Federal Government
is trying to subsidize the neediest who couldn't otherwise
afford housing or insurance. And as we think about how to
mitigate that risk, there are some really hard equity
questions.
And I say that in my pivot to Ms. Gibbons because, you
know, given your organization and your focus, I can't help but
think about this report and any news about two weeks ago where
they said that just eight counties in Alabama, Louisiana, and
Florida accounted for 1/2, 1/2 of the $1.2 billion in NFIP
claims last year. And while the effects of climate change are
obviously global, there are very localized, specific areas that
we know are going to bear the brunt of this.
And when we talk about that in other countries, we
acknowledge that it's a refugee crisis, right? When we talk
about that in our country, we talk about it in the terms of
adaptation because it is so hard for us to contemplate the
alternative. And given your focus on adaptation, how would you
suggest--leave us to deal with the politics, but how would you
suggest that we think about that tension between adaptation and
relocation?
Ms. Gibbons. I'll just speak briefly. I'm sure Liz has
other thoughts on this, too, as she's sitting in the seat in
Louisiana. And we think about managed retreat as being part of
a suite of adaptation strategies, and communities need to have
the opportunity to have the information they need about their
risk but also to explore what options are going to be possible.
And then the Federal Government is responsible for enabling
those options so that they can make those decisions with
dignity.
But if I may, I would love to have Liz respond to this.
Ms. Russell. Yes, thanks so much, Beth.
I would like to say that absolutely there are certain
places where it is predominately lower-income folks who are
developing--I mean, who own property in higher-risk areas.
However, that is not true across the country for sure, and
there are other places where we continue to subsidize ongoing
development and the flood insurance program at a rate that's
not actual and at a scale that is insurmountable.
I would--as I mentioned in my testimony--and there's more
detail in my written testimony--we see ongoing climate-induced
migration already. It's not a future scenario in Louisiana.
It's already happening. And it's the people above a certain
income threshold who are able to make that decision, and they
would--we call that adaptation here. It is a choice to relocate
elsewhere. Typically, it is moving one town up or to the next
area perceived as safer, which may or may not be.
And so this is a point where we need more sophisticated
risk analysis and communication and technical assistance
capacity in those local areas to actually work with people who
are making the decisions. We also need stronger regulation to
prevent increased development that then we end up subsidizing
as a Federal taxpayer and through the Federal systems both NFIP
and through mortgages that are backed by the Federal
Government. We have to begin to address those systems, and we
also need to connect that challenge with the technical
assistance and the types of mitigation activities to address
the risks at the local level.
I'll also say in the areas that are growing because,
again, we have places that are already growing as well as
losing population, we don't have the practices in place to
consider strategically where new development should actually be
occurring and where that ends up falling back on where those
parishes are trying to grow their population, grow their tax
bases, they're not regulating any of the new development that's
occurring, and it's really critical that our Federal systems
are stood up and actually deepened in order to acknowledge
those variances, acknowledge where there is a local
disincentive to talk about the risk that's in those places, and
where we're ending up pushing back that vulnerability onto the
American taxpayer.
Mr. Casten. Well, thank you, and thank you to the Chair
for allowing us a little time to get into a very comprehensive
response. I appreciate it. I yield back.
Staff. Mr. Crist is next. Your microphone is not on, Mr.
Crist.
Mr. Crist. Is that better?
Staff. Yes, sir.
Mr. Crist. Great, thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair also,
and thank you to the Assistant Secretary for joining us today.
The Economic Development Administration or EDA has been
instrumental in supporting American communities throughout the
pandemic. I applaud your agency's dedication to fulfilling the
mission during this time of great need. Through the American
Rescue Plan, Congress provided $3 billion to the EDA and
included a 25 percent set-aside for communities that have
suffered significant economic loss in the areas of tourism,
hospitality, and outdoor recreation industries. This set-aside
is huge for my home State of Florida, which, as you know, is
heavily dependent on all of these industries and has suffered
significant economic loss due to the pandemic.
I think I've been given the wrong material. Please hold.
Hold on 1 second. Thank you for your indulgence, Madam
Secretary, and for your indulgence, Madam Chair.
My home State of Florida is very susceptible to outbreaks
of harmful algal blooms. These outbreaks will continue to
increase in severity and frequency as climate change warms our
water. So the monitoring of forecasting services that NOAA
provides are critical in helping us and local communities
determine their risk and post warnings in a timely manner.
Ms. Russell, can you discuss how the Federal Government
currently provides harmful algal bloom prediction and response
resource to coastal communities?
Ms. Russell. Yes, so I would love to get that information
to you. I'd be happy to follow up and have it formally inserted
into the record, but with full transparency, algal blooms are
not my area of expertise.
Mr. Crist. Anybody else on the panel willing to address
that or prepared to address that?
OK. Well, then I think I'm done. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Chairwoman Sherrill. Well, thank you. And algal blooms are
something I'm deeply concerned about as well, so I'm happy to
discuss a further hearing on that topic.
Mr. Crist. Great.
Chairwoman Sherrill. But before we bring the hearing to a
close, I want to thank our witnesses for testifying before the
Committee today. The record will remain open for two weeks for
additional statements from the Members and for any additional
questions the Committee may ask of the witnesses.
The witnesses are excused, and the hearing is now
adjourned. Thank you so much to everyone.
[Whereupon, at 12:25 p.m., the Subcommittee was
adjourned.]
Appendix I
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Answers to Post-Hearing Questions
Answers to Post-Hearing Questions
Responses by Dr. Richard Moss
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Responses by Ms. Beth Gibbons
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Appendix II
----------
Additional Material for the Record
Letters submitted by Representative Mikie Sherrill
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Studies submitted by Ms. Beth Gibbons
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
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