West Coast Democratic Sens. Maria Cantwell and Mark Begich are pressing President Obama to dole out emergency funds to help researchers track and respond to the debris that is crossing the Pacific Ocean after the March 2011 tsunami in Japan.

"We have had more than a year to prepare for the incoming debris, yet little is known about the scale of the threat," Cantwell of Washington and Begich of Alaska wrote today in a letter to Obama. "We are deeply concerned that government agencies are not taking this risk seriously. The federal government has yet to dedicate adequate resources or create a solid coordinated action plan for tsunami debris response."

The letter comes after a Japanese fishing boat appeared off the coast of British Columbia last week, months ahead of predictions. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is tweaking its forecast to account for various factors that may bring the 1.5 million tons of debris from the Japanese disaster to the North American coast sooner than expected (Greenwire, March 27).

"Hundreds of thousands of jobs in Washington state depend on our healthy marine ecosystems and coastal communities," Cantwell said in a statement. "We can't wait until tsunami debris washes ashore. We need to have an aggressive plan on how we're going to deal with it."

The senators asked the president to expedite National Science Foundation funds to allow scientists to determine the trajectory, volume, composition and potential impact of the tsunami debris. The Measurements of Earth Data for Environmental Analysis program, which permits researchers access to classified satellite images to research climate change, should be expanded to include tsunami debris, the senators said. They also urged the president to allow the U.S. Navy access to tsunami data.

The letter also addressed proposed budget cuts to NOAA's Marine Debris Program. The Obama administration in its fiscal 2013 budget request called for a 25 percent funding cut for the program.

Under regular circumstances, such cuts would be ill-advised, the letter said, but given the impending debris, "such a cut makes even less sense."

"Cuts to the marine debris budget would do undue harm to the safety and well-being of Alaska's expensive coastline and coastal communities," Begich said in a statement.

Click here to read the letter.