Crosscuts EXECUTIVE SUMMARY National Oceanographic Partnership Program The National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP) was established by the 104th Congress to ensure well-coordinated interagency efforts supporting ocean science and education. NOPP is a formal, collaborative mechanism supporting new partnerships to share resources, intellectual talent, and facilities among Federal, academic, and private sectors to address the common needs of the participating agencies. NOPP agencies include Navy, DOC/NOAA, NSF, NASA, DOE, EPA, DOI/MMS, DOI/USGS, and DOT/USCG. NOAA's FY 1999 request includes a $2.0 million increase to support specific research and development efforts that are critical to NOAA's mission and will clearly benefit from the NOPP partnership. The increase will support research portions of two partnership efforts: (1) Understand and predict the occurrence and impacts of harmful algal blooms building on initial efforts stimulated by NOAA, NSF, and EPA in FY 1997; and (2) Predict and assess the impacts of growing hypoxic "dead zones" on coastal resources of the Gulf of Mexico. This research will allow significant progress in preventing and controlling the spread and impacts of nonindigenous species through work with state, local, academic and industry partners. The NOPP research partnerships will improve our understanding of important coastal and ocean systems and provide government and non-government managers with accurate and timely predictions of coastal and ocean resource conditions. Natural Disaster Reduction Initiative (NDRI) NOAA's FY 1999 budget request includes $55.0 million for important new activities that will reduce the costs of natural hazards as part of the Natural Disaster Reduction Intiative (NDRI). NDRI is an interagency effort to reduce and mitigate the direct and indirect costs of natural disasters. Developed through the National Science and Technology Council's Committee on Environment and Natural Resources (CENR), this Initiative is part of the Administration's effort to apply the tools of federal agencies EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (including NOAA, EDA and NIST within the Department of Commerce) to save lives, reduce the costs and lower the risks of natural disasters. Natural hazards include severe weather (hurricanes, tornadoes, winter storms, heat, droughts and floods), geophysical activity (volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis), and extreme biological events (e.g., harmful algal blooms, nonindigenous species, persistent hypoxia). Natural hazards threaten lives, property, natural resources and the stability of local and regional economies throughout the United States. The costs of weather-related disasters have doubled or tripled each decade over the last 35 years. Weather-related natural disasters alone have taken lives, damaged property and produced other costs averaging at least $50 billion per year or roughly $1 billion per week over the last few years. Each year inland flooding claims an average of 131 lives and causes property losses in excess of $3.5 billion. In the first nine months of 1997, floods claimed more than 80 lives and resulted in $6.0 billion in damages in the U.S. Other natural hazards such as harmful algal blooms and the spread of introduced species every year result in lost revenues for fishing and tourism industries. These reported costs are just a fraction of the actual costs from natural hazards. The actual costs include damages to natural resources, loss of landfill capacity, loss of wages and productivity, and threats to public health. The costs of natural hazards are projected to increase if steps are not taken to help communities reduce their vulnerability and prevent natural hazards from becoming natural disasters. These increasing costs are of great concern to government agencies, the private sector and the public. NOAA's FY 1999 request will provide new activities in two critical areas to lower the impacts and costs of natural hazards. These activities include: (1) providing the best possible warnings and information to prevent damage and permit escape during hazard events, and (2) providing information and techniques to lower the vulnerability and increase the resiliency of people and property before and after hazard events. NOAA's request will provide more accurate and timely warnings and forecasts for weather-related and other natural disasters and provide information on the risks and costs of natural disasters in the nation's valuable coastal communities, some of the areas hardest hit by natural hazards. The increase will also provide techniques to mitigate the impacts of natural hazards, measures to reduce the introduction and spread of nonindigenous species that threaten coastal fisheries, and research for dealing with other coastal hazards such as harmful algal blooms and the growing hypoxic "dead" zone in the Gulf of Mexico. A large and diverse group of industry and government partners is depending on NOAA and other Commerce bureaus to take the lead in reducing the risks and costs associated with natural hazards. NOAA's contributions to the NDRI will save lives, reduce costs, help prevent damages to property and natural resources, and allow NOAA to fulfill its responsibilities related to natural disasters in the Federal Natural Disaster Mitigation Strategy and the National Invasive Species Act. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Clean Water Initiative (CWI) NOAA's FY 1999 budget request includes $22.0 million to support the Administration's Clean Water Initiative. This Initiative will help protect coastal communities from toxics and reduce the flow of pollution into coastal waters from nonpoint sources (e.g., runoff from agricultural fields, city streets, and other areas). Polluted runoff is now a major source of coastal water pollution and one of the primary factors associated with outbreaks of harmful algal blooms (e.g., Pfiesteria) and the spread of hypoxic zones in U.S. coastal waters. Communities, businesses and human health are increasingly threatened by polluted runoff and the symptoms of polluted coastal waters. For example, every year degraded water quality causes warnings or closures of thousands of beaches resulting in losses to tourism and recreation industries. Degraded water quality continues to close or restrict the use of nearly 30% of U.S. shellfish growing areas. This includes 4.5 million acres or 50% of the shellfish growing area in the Gulf of Mexico, the Nation's top shellfish-producing region. Over the past 20 years, harmful algal blooms have impacted nearly every coastal state and produced an estimated $1.0 billion in economic losses. Recent NOAA surveys indicate that 53% of U.S. estuaries experience hypoxic conditions (low dissolved oxygen) and 30% experience anoxia (no dissolved oxygen) at some time each year. The increasing frequency and magnitude of these problems suggests that significant action is required now to reduce the costs and symptoms of nonpoint source pollution, and improve the quality of U.S. coastal waters. NOAA's FY 1999 request will strengthen and enhance critical research, monitoring and coastal management capabilities of the National Ocean Service required to address the sources of nonpoint source pollution and symptoms of degraded coastal waters (e.g., harmful algal blooms, hypoxia, beach closings, shellfish advisories). An increase of $6.0 million in FY 1999 will provide coastal states with technical support to reduce nonpoint source pollution. By FY 1999, 29 coastal states will have approved Coastal Nonpoint Source Pollution Control Programs that require funds for implementation. Working with other Federal, state and local agencies, NOAA will use Coastal Zone Management (CZM) Act Section 309 Enhancement Grants to fund these programs and implement on-the-ground management measures to control polluted runoff in coastal areas. Three states (Texas, Georgia and Ohio) recently entered the Coastal Zone Management Program and will be working to develop coastal nonpoint control programs. Additional funding of $6.0 million will support the development of nonpoint control programs in these new CZM states through Nonpoint Pollution Control Program (6217) Grants. These grants will also be used to assist coastal states with EXECUTIVE SUMMARY conditionally approved nonpoint programs to address the conditions and manage and implement their ongoing programs. Funding of $9.0 million will enable NOAA to continue participation in the National Pfiesteria Research and Monitoring Strategy and the Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (ECOHAB) program. Funding of $1.0 million of these funds will provide research on the impacts and control of pfiesteria through NOAA's Charleston laboratory. Funding of $2.9 million of these funds will provide research and monitoring activities to better understand and predict bloom impacts. Funding of $2.9 million will support ECOHAB to develop and implement control, prevention, and mitigation strategies. Funding of $2.3 million will also allow NOAA to work cooperatively with partners and stakeholders, through grants to states, universities, and communities to develop rapid monitoring and assessment capabilities and respond to costly blooms of harmful algae. An increase of $1.0 million in FY 1999 will enhance NOAA's capabilities to address the impacts of hazardous waste sites on coastal water quality and NOAA trust resources. Funds will allow NOAA's Coastal Resource Coordination Program to address these serious environmental threats sooner and more effectively, expedite restoration and cleanup of coastal natural resources without costly litigation, share NOAA's technical expertise, and create cost effective approaches for remediating waste site contamination as part of the Clean Water Initiative. |