Oceans and climate issues topped the agenda yesterday at a Senate oversight hearing on the Commerce Department.
Members of the Commerce Committee grilled Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez on a host of issues, ranging from global warming to federal efforts to protect Klamath Basin salmon populations.
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) was among several lawmakers who asked Gutierrez about ongoing concerns over the management of U.S. environmental satellites. "Loss of satellites and sensing systems threaten to blind us at the time when we need clear vision," Boxer said.
Gutierrez said he believed his department had addressed those concerns, arguing that the next generation of environmental satellites -- under the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) -- would be "well armed" despite recent cuts in planned satellites and sensors.
"We have had to reduce the number of sensors, but each sensor will be of a higher caliber," he said. "We believe we are well-equipped, well-armed. We have had to deal with some cost overruns."
Boxer, who said she intends to introduce a comprehensive oceans bill, also asked Gutierrez to detail for her staff the Bush administration's position on each recommendation of recent reports by the Pew Oceans Commission and the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy.
And she asked Gutierrez to produce a detailed breakdown of the $37 billion he said the Bush administration has spent on climate change-related programs.
For his part, Gutierrez said he believes "there is a general scientific consensus that climate change is in part caused by human activity," but added that he could not say how large the human contribution is.
Meanwhile, committee Republicans zeroed in on fisheries management issues.
Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) asked Gutierrez to examine concerns about how the administration's offshore aquaculture proposal -- which the panel has introduced as a courtesy to the White House -- would affect finfish off Alaska's coasts.
"There's still great fear about the concept of aquaculture within our 200 limit and beyond," Stevens said.
And Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) raised concerns with management of salmon in the Klamath Basin, particularly federal policies to control sea lions that prey on the fish.
The California sea lion population has increased six-fold over the past 30 years, and in recent years more than 1,000 sea lions have started to enter the lower part of the Columbia River during the peak spring salmon run. Because the sea lions are protected by the Marine Mammal Act, the federal government is limited in its ability to keep the animals away from the fish.
A bill pending in the House would lift some protections on the sea lions, allowing officials to kill up to 10 or use "alternative measures" to keep them away from salmon.
"The states of Oregon and Washington and Idaho have filed for authority to control sea lions. Do you think states have a right to do more if we're serous about saving salmon?" Smith asked. "We don't run hydroelectric dams [to protect salmon], but we allow sea lion population to grow unmitigated."
Gutierrez said he would look into the issue. "We can always improve. If we're losing more salmon because of that, that's something we should be focused on," he said.
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