13 



construction is that? I thought we were busy trying to renovate ex- 

 isting offices. 



Mr. Moxam. Mr. Chairman, that is building the new weather 

 forecast offices. They also are colocated with the next generation 

 radars. We find that we have to, given the new restructured 

 Weather Service, build new offices to house them. 



Senator Kerry. How many of those are going to be built? 



Mr. Moxam. I believe we are going to have 115 offices under the 

 restructured Weather Service. I understand it is about 80 or 85 

 would be brand new construction and then we have some rehab on 

 the others and use of existing facilities on the others. I can provide 

 a breakdown more accurately for the record, Mr. Chairman. 



[The information referred to follows:] 



Of the 116 weather forecast officer, the NWS will build 84 new facilities, lease 

 22 facilities, and modify 12 existing facilities. Existing weather offices were evalu- 

 ated to determine whether modifications were possible. Special requirements needed 

 to support the advanced technology of the modernized NWS and increased space re- 

 quirements made most facilities unsuitable for modification. 



Senator Kerry. Well, now, you are currently obviously under 

 court challenge in trying to close some offices. New York and Bos- 

 ton, I guess, are among those under contention. Where does this 

 construction leave those offices or those locations? 



Mr. Moxam. Mr. Chairman, if I recall — we probably should pro- 

 vide this for the record, but if I recall, that would not affect the 

 construction schedule, sir. 



Senator Kerry. I am not talking about schedule. Would they be 

 one-for-one replacements? Would the office close in New York and 

 a new office open, or will the Weather Service be gone from New 

 York and gone from Boston? What does this new generation radar 

 mean for either New York or Boston? 



Dr. Baker. Mr. Chairman, it would probably be good if we got 

 the head of the Weather Service to answer that specific question 

 for you, Joe Friday. Joe, would you come up to the table? 



Dr. Friday. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. With respect to the New 

 York office, we are located at 30 Rockefeller Plaza at the present 

 time, right in downtown Manhattan. The new radar simply cannot 

 go on top of that building to replace the old radar. First of all, the 

 company will not allow us to do it. And second, if we put the new 

 radar in the middle of Manhattan, all we would get is the buildings 

 and ground clutter, just as we do with the present radar that is 

 there at the present time. 



The location for that new radar is at Brookehaven Laboratory on 

 Long Island, which covers all of the New York metropolitan area 

 and extends into overlapping with the radars that are located in 

 the Massachusetts area and over in New Jersey, and in upper New 

 York. 



The new office is constructed. As a matter of fact, the construc- 

 tion is essentially complete on Brookehaven Laboratory. The fore- 

 cast operation will eventually be relocated there, to be colocated 

 with the radar to operate fully, to cover the whole metropolitan 

 New York area. 



The same situation exists in Boston. We are located at the 

 present time at Boston Logan Airport. There is no location at that 

 point to place a radar. We will be placing the radar at Taunton, 



