NOAA ANNOUNCES 2008 BUDGET REQUEST

Feb. 5, 2007 — Retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator, today announced highlights of President Bush's proposed 2008 budget for the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Lautenbacher said NOAA's request totals $3.8 billion or an increase of 3.4 percent over the administration's 2007 request. (Click NOAA image for larger view of the front cover of NOAA’s Fiscal Year 2008 budget. Please credit “NOAA.”)

"The President's budget makes a substantial investment in our oceans that will pay dividends for years to come," said Lautenbacher. "We will be able to make great progress in the goals laid out in the President's Ocean Action Plan of ensuring sustainable use of ocean resources, protecting and restoring marine and coastal areas and enhancing ocean science and research."

Budget priorities for this year and key program increases include:

Support for the President's U.S. Ocean Action Plan

• Protection and restoration of marine and coastal areas + $38 million
• Enforcement and management of the newly designated Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument.
• Funding to restore nearly 1,000 stream miles for endangered Atlantic salmon and other species.
• Klamath River salmon recovery.
• Competitive grant programs focused on the Gulf of Mexico Alliance coastal resource priorities.

(Click NOAA image for larger view of NOAA’s 2008 budget summary by strategic goals. Please credit “NOAA.”)

Sustainable use of ocean resources + $25 million

• Establish the regulatory framework for environmentally sustainable commercial aquaculture opportunities.
• Improvements for better management of aquaculture harvests.
• Support of the new and expanded requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Management Reauthorization Act of 2006.
• Additional funding for observer programs and market-based approaches to fisheries management.
  

Advancement of ocean science and research + $60 million

• New investments for the Integrated Ocean Observing System
• Additional research funding addressing the national Ocean Research Priorities Plan

Improving Weather Warnings and Forecasts

• Hurricane intensity forecast research + $2 million.
• Operations and maintenance for hurricane data buoys +$3 million.
• Additional deployments of deep-ocean buoys for the U.S. Tsunami Warning Program +$1.7 million.

(Click NOAA image for larger view of NOAA’s 2008 budget summary by line office. Please credit “NOAA.”)

Climate Monitoring and Research

• Support for the National Integrated Drought Information System +$4.4 million.
• Support for the U.S. Integrated Earth Observation System +$0.9 million.
• Research to understand the link between ocean currents and rapid climate change +$5 million.
• Enhance computational support for assessing abrupt climate change +$1.0 million.

Critical Facilities Investment

• Design of replacement facility for the NOAA Fisheries Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, Calif. +$3.0 million.
• Continued construction of the NOAA Pacific Region Center in Hawaii +$20.3 million.

Sustaining Critical Operations

• Workforce inflation factors including salaries and benefits +$44.9 million and non-labor related issues such as fuel costs +$6.6 million.
• Support for marine operations and equipment +$8.3 million.
• Support for aviation operations, including costs associated with operations of NOAA's third P-3 aircraft +$5.5 million.
• Support for use of unmanned vehicles; autonomous underwater vehicles +$0.7 million, unmanned aircraft systems +$3.0 million.
• Continued development and acquisition of polar-orbiting satellites +$ 25 million.

NOAA, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, is celebrating 200 years of science and service to the nation. From the establishment of the Survey of the Coast in 1807 by Thomas Jefferson to the formation of the Weather Bureau and the Commission of Fish and Fisheries in the 1870s, much of America's scientific heritage is rooted in NOAA. NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of the nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 60 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.

Relevant Web Sites
NOAA

NOAA 2008 Budget Request

NOAA Budget Office

Media Contact:
David Miller, NOAA, (202) 482-0013