Schumer: It's Time to Put High Pressure on Congress before These Essential Weather Satellites Become Space Junk

Press Release

U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer , today, said that the past underfunding of the U.S. weather forecasting operation, which includes a fleet of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) satellites high above earth, may have led to several miscalls by U.S. forecasting agencies currently tracking Hurricane Joaquin along the east coast. At the same time, Schumer revealed that Congress has proposed cuts of $245 million in desperately-needed federal funding for the construction and maintenance of next-generation weather satellites that are used by experts to better forecast weather and predict storms that can change in destination and strength within hours.

Specifically, the House and Senate appropriations bills fail to provide enough funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) next generation of polar-orbiting weather satellites that continuously scan the planet and provide critical data on atmospheric winds and moisture; the data is used by meteorologists when predicting weather forecasts up to seven days in advance. NOAA has warned that, without construction of a new weather satellite, the U.S. will be reliant on only one polar-orbiting satellite. NOAA has said that, beginning in 2016, there will be at least a one year gap between the newest polar-orbiting satellite's design lifetime and the scheduled launch date of a replacement. NOAA has said that such a gap could significantly impact the agency's ability to provide advanced notice of weather events, like Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Joaquin.

"In the era of super storms, accurate weather forecasts are not a luxury -- they are a necessity. The information we gather on weather from high above the earth translates into safety on the ground," said Schumer. "It is just plain dumb to cut hundreds of millions from our weather satellite system just when catastrophic storms are getting more extreme and more frequent. Hurricane Joaquin is just the latest example of how crucial these satellites are and that's why I am launching this push to get our weather system adequately funded."

To sustain a first-rate weather reporting system, Schumer is pushing Congress to restore $245 million in federal funding for NOAA so that the U.S. can continue to precisely predict and track extreme weather events. Schumer explained that President Obama's proposed budget includes $380 million to construct new NOAA polar-orbiting weather satellites used to address potentially catastrophic gaps in weather data. However, the Senate's proposed appropriations bill includes only $135 million for the program, and shockingly, the House's proposed appropriations bill does not include any federal funding for the program.

Schumer said, "The lack of adequate funding for the program would severely delay the construction of these much-needed satellites. In 2014, the United States suffered eight major weather and climate events, costing approximately more than $1 billion each."

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