Sequestration Nation - What "Responsible" Budgeting Does To Weather, USGS, Wildfire Protection, More

[hatrack]

EDIT

Regardless of where the money to avoid furloughs comes from, the plan will not provide more funding for NOAA. As was the case with the FAA, the same amount of budget cuts must still be made, and they will either come from immediate priorities or long-term, yet equally critical, priorities. While no amount of government funding will ever prevent a storm from occurring, government funding is critical in helping us forecast, prepare for, and recover from severe weather events. And in spite of NOAA’s plan to avoid furloughs, sequestration will put these capabilities at risk.

NOAA is also responsible for forecasting hurricanes through the Weather Service’s National Hurricane Center and expects the 2013 Atlantic Hurricane Season, which officially began June 1, to be “active or extremely active.” This forecast is of great concern to residents of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, as sequestration cuts to NOAA and more than $1 billion in cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, could make communities less equipped to prepare for and less capable of dealing with the aftermath of any potential storms. More than $900 million of the cuts to FEMA specifically affect disaster relief and more than $100 million will affect grants to state and local governments to help them prepare for storms.

Bryan Koon, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, worries about this year’s hurricane season being particularly active as cutbacks at the National Weather Service office in Tallahassee mean “they would simply not have the manpower to necessary to ensure they have the appropriate coverage in all their field offices to provide us with the most accurate and timely forecast.” Republican Gov. Rick Scott of Florida also summed up these concerns at the recent Governor’s Hurricane Conference in Fort Lauderdale. “My biggest concern,” he said, “is that while they say sequestration will stop during a disaster, are they going to be ready in the meantime?” But sequestration is not only affecting hurricane preparedness and response; it is also inhibiting the nation’s ability to address wildfires, floods, and volcanic activity.

In western states such as California and Arizona, local officials are anxious over what could be a particularly dangerous wildfire season. These officials are hampered both on the prevention side by almost $300 million in cuts to the Forest Service and on the response side by cuts to the National Guard and FEMA grants to states. As a result of the Forest Service cuts, wildfire-prone areas are not receiving as much preventive treatment such as brush clearing and controlled burns, which help to mitigate the potential and severity of wildfires. In Ventura, California, officials worry that furloughs of civilian National Guard employees would reduce the time available for technicians to keep firefighting aircraft operable by up to 20 percent, “which during the fire season can be decisive,” according to Maj. Gen. David Baldwin.

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http://www.resilience.org/stories/2013-06-04/sequestration-nation-government-funding-is-critical-in-dealing-with-severe-weather

[phantom power]

1. Wonder if our Galtian overlords ever ponder what Sandy would have been like with no warning

[Nihil]

2. At least you've still got all of your soldiers, airmen, sailors and other drones to protect you ...

... from all of the other invading countries who are at your borders ...