Satellites and tsunamis were the hot topics yesterday at a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing to review the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's proposed fiscal 2013 budget.

Lawmakers on the Commerce, Justice and Science subpanel questioned NOAA head Jane Lubchenco about the agency's proposed $5.1 billion budget, including $2 billion for satellite programs.

Specifically, NOAA is requesting $916 million to build and launch two new satellites by 2017 to continue the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), which collects the bulk of data used to make weather forecasts and issue hurricane and tornado warnings. The agency pledged to cap total program costs at $12.9 billion.

"That's pretty pricey," said Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.).

"Satellites are expensive," Lubchenco replied. "That, in a nutshell, is what is putting pressure on a lot of our other programs."

Lubchenco stressed the importance of fulfilling the large request, which she said is an effort to make up for past funding shortfalls that have delayed the program and are expected to lead to a substantial gap in data collection (ClimateWire, March 7).

"We're now on track," she said. "It's important we stay on track."

Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.) recommended finding a way to smooth out satellite program funding from year to year, so it's not so heavily front-loaded. Lubchenco agreed that would be ideal but noted it would mean not requiring the agency to spend the funds in that budget year, because costs are not incurred evenly.

Lawmakers were also concerned about cuts to tsunami monitoring buoys and educational programs to prepare communities to respond to tsunami warnings. Lubchenco has explained in other committee hearings that the cuts are due to special funding expiring (E&E Daily, March 8).

"I do not believe these funds will affect the caliber of our tsunami warnings," Lubchenco said yesterday.

Rep. Jose Serrano (D-N.Y.) and others also asked why there are two tsunami warning centers in the Pacific region but none in the Atlantic or Caribbean. Lubchenco explained that when there is an earthquake, scientists in Alaska and Hawaii run models to make tsunami predictions and issue warnings that are transmitted immediately to other parts of the world with no time delay. The same models would be run with the same outcome, even if they were in the Caribbean, she said.

But Serrano was not buying it.

"I'm not easily sold the scientists in Alaska can tell you what's going to happen in Venezuela," Serrano said, and pledged to continue pushing for a tsunami warning center in the Caribbean.

Lawmakers also pledged to develop legislation to require labeling seafood so consumers know what country it came from, though there was some confusion about which federal agency would have authority to do that -- NOAA or the Food and Drug Administration.