Forwarded from a Wisconsin list ... but of interest

-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        FWD: Bush wants to beef up Earth - observing satellites,
proposed more than a $1 billion increase
Date:   Tue, 05 Feb 2008 11:52:16 -0600
From:   Lea Shanley <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To:       Maps-L
To:



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080204/ap_on_sc/budget_earthwatch_2

By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer Mon Feb 4, 6:39 PM ET

WASHINGTON - After years cutting of budgets for tracking global
 warming, President Bush on Monday proposed more than a $1 billion increase
 over the next five years for launching more and better Earth-observing
 satellites.
The president's 2009 budget provides money for six new NASA satellites
 to watch Earth's changes, costing at least $910 million over the next
 five years.
It also calls for an increase of more than $200 million for National
 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's weather satellites and climate
 monitoring, including restoration of key instruments that had been cut
 from a troubled and delayed weather satellite.
NASA had not approved a new Earth sciences mission in four years and
 the number of NASA Earth-observing satellites either in orbit or in the
 pipeline had dropped from 26 in 2004 to 21 last month.
A critical report last year by the National Academy of Sciences
 contended the government was unprepared for collecting vital information about
 global warming. It noted that NASA's Earth sciences research budget
 had been effectively cut by 30 percent since 2000 and the report prompted
 changes in the government's Earth observing plans, officials said.
"Think of NASA's blue logo as turning a little bit greener," NASA
 sciences chief Alan Stern told The Associated Press Monday. "We are amping
 up our emphasis on Earth sciences."
Two new satellites, listed as top priorities by the National Academy,
 were included in Bush's budget proposal. They would map critical soil
 moisture around the world and replace an aging satellite that monitors
 shrinking ice worldwide. The NASA budget includes money for four other
 satellites, but the agency hasn't yet decided which ones to build, Stern
 said.
New satellites are crucial to see changes in water, soil, ice and air
 to act as early warnings for global warming changes yet to come,
 scientists said.
"This is the right time for Earth observations," said White House
 science adviser Jack Marburger. "Everyone's concerned about climate change."
Richard Anthes, a past president of the American Meteorological Society
 who co-chaired the National Academy report, called the new budget an
 improvement, but said it "does not go far enough." He said it is about
 $850 million short of what the academy recommended over the next three
 years.
On the energy emissions that cause global warming, the president's
 proposed budget would cut spending on energy efficiency and renewable
 energy by $500 million, but would increase spending on "clean coal"
 technologies for power plants and nuclear power.
Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., who chairs a special House global warming
 committee, called the budget an investment in "the dirty fuels of the
 past."