Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) vowed yesterday to do "everything I can" to block a White House plan to move the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to the Interior Department.

"I can't live with the thought of NOAA moving to the Interior Department," he said. "I don't know whose idea it was. I don't know how we can stop it. But I pledge to do as much as I can to make sure that it doesn't happen."

Speaking at a Commerce subcommittee hearing, Rockefeller said he is "appalled" by the Obama administration proposal to relocate NOAA from the Commerce Department.

"I want to serve notice that I will do everything I can to ensure that it will not happen. That is not because of territorial concerns, or jurisdictional concerns," Rockefeller said. "It's because it simply does not make any sense. ... I just want to make sure that NOAA's day-to-day performance stays on track."

Officials from the White House Office of Management and Budget laid out the plan to relocate NOAA in January, as part of a larger push to streamline federal operations that would consolidate several existing trade and business agencies (ClimateWire, Jan. 16).

Last month, President Obama submitted a legislative proposal to Congress that, if approved, would allow him to merge, move and eliminate agencies.

But its appeal to a sharply divided Congress gearing up for the coming federal elections is doubtful.

In the meantime, administration officials have offered few details about how they would merge NOAA's broad portfolio of climate and oceans research, fisheries management, weather forecasting, environmental satellites and its own uniformed service with Interior's mix of land management, species protection, science, and oil and gas industry oversight.

Still, the idea of moving NOAA out of the Commerce Department is not a new one. The agency is often viewed as an odd fit within the department, where its current $4.9 billion purse accounts for roughly 60 percent of the total budget.