U.S. Geological Survey Director Marcia McNutt will defend a proposed $34.5 million budget increase before a House Appropriations subcommittee tomorrow.

With a proposed $51 million infusion for research and development for fiscal 2013, USGS's $1.1 billion spending plan is about 3 percent larger than 2012 enacted levels.

"We're proud of that," Matthew Larsen, the USGS associate director of climate and land use change, said of the spending plan. "But ... Congress has to approve it."

The first hurdle for USGS is the House Appropriations Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Subcommittee, which takes up the proposal tomorrow.

Some of the largest proposed budget increases for USGS: $21 million for groundwater monitoring and other WaterSMART initiatives and $16.2 million for ecosystem restoration science in the Chesapeake Bay, California Bay Delta and other projects.

With booming interest in extracting shale gas through hydraulic fracturing, USGS is proposing a 70 percent funding increase to study the impacts of "fracking." The boost would allow USGS to contribute $18.6 million to an ongoing multiagency research effort.

Last year, the Interior Department's primary science agency was criticized by some lawmakers for cutting back on natural-hazard monitoring. This year, the agency has proposed adding $8.6 million to upgrade monitoring, warnings and responses for earthquakes, floods, landslides and volcanoes.

But while many programs are in line for proposed funding increases, the agency is also proposing a cut of $50 million from numerous programs, including $1.75 million for planning development of the Landsat satellite program.

Finding a long-term solution for Landsat is a key goal for McNutt. Photographs taken by satellites of the Earth's surface provide a continuous record of land-use changes since 1972, the agency said; that record provides a baseline for a wide range of studies.

There is funding for the launch of Landsat 8 next January, but there's no funding to replace the equipment, which is expected to last no more than a decade.

"We are very concerned that we have no budget line item and nothing proposed in the budget for a follow-on of Landsat 8," McNutt said in an interview in December.

Schedule: The hearing is Tuesday, March 6, at 1 p.m. in B-308 Rayburn.

Witnesses: USGS Director Marcia McNutt, USGS Deputy Director Suzette Kimball and Carla Burzyk, director of the USGS Office of Budget, Planning and Integration.