Letter to Speaker Boehner, Chairman Rogers, and Chairman Wolf

Letter

Dear Speaker Boehner, Chairman Rogers, and Chairman Wolf

I respectfully request that the Appropriations committee work to restore the devastating cuts to the Hurricane Hunter Aircraft Operations under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under the 2012 Commerce Justice Science Appropriations Bill. As you are aware, the bill is likely to come to the floor for amendment this fall.

For the communities across the country facing devastation from hurricanes, there is no greater asset than information. Accurate and timely information can mean the difference between life and death. That is why I am so concerned about the proposed cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's budget, particularly the amount from aircraft operations. The Commerce Justice Science Appropriations Bill passed by the committee includes a forty percent cut to the vital hurricane hunters. I plan to offer an amendment to restore this funding when the bill comes to the floor.

We must do everything we can to address our debt and deficit, however we must balance it in a way that recognizes the needs of communities. The costs of the hurricane hunters operations pales in comparison to the lives an money saved with the increasingly accurate predictions that come from the flights from MacDill Airforce Base. James Franklin, head of forecast operations for the National Hurricane Center said, "If those flights were to stop for whatever reason, there would be a degradation in our forecasts for storms threatening the United States". The aircraft at MacDill are unique and crucial to the research being done improving hurricane prediction. Improved predictions not only save lives, but can save millions of dollars in unnecessary business closures and evacuations.

We have talented people at MacDill to develop new science and advancements that have made the tracking of hurricanes and storms so much more accurate than in the past. I have attached an article that outlines some of their successes, including narrowing the cone of uncertainty by as much as 50 percent in the past decade. Unfortunately, without the funding for the aircraft, this research with be in jeopardy. As Frank Marks, research meteorologist and Director for the NOAA/Atlantic Oceanographic
Meteorological Laboratory Hurricane Research Division, said, "take them out of the equations and our research is dead in the water."

We must continue to support the research and advancement of the hurricane hunters opertaion. I urge you to support my amendment to restore funding to this vital program.

Sincerely,

Kathy Castor
United States Representative
Florida -- District 11

Source