13/05/2009 at 10:00AM
E&E News:
The Energy and Environment Subcommittee will consider the bill that would create a new National Climate Service at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. H.R. 2306, introduced Thursday by Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), would authorize $2 billion for the climate service over its first five years, beginning in fiscal 2011.
The Dicks bill builds on language included in the draft energy and climate bill from Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), which called for the creation of a climate service at NOAA but offered few additional details.
Dicks’ bill would place the climate service in NOAA’s Climate Program Office, creating both a national center and network of regional and local facilities for climate observations, modeling and research. NOAA already supports several regional climate centers and other climate-related agency laboratories, including the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.