14 



Facilities / Environmental Compliance 



NOAA occupies an extensive inventory of 443 stafied facilities in every state and 

 territory with more than 1000 buildings and a widespread number of activities. The 

 challenge here is to ensure that these are in the ri^t condition, configuration and 

 location to support fully NOAA's missions. Cleanup of major environmental prob- 

 lems at various NOAA sites is also a priority. While there are not a large number 

 of such contaminated locations, each requires intensive attention. 



Environmental Satellites 



NOAA's core missions to observe, predict and assess the environment demand a 

 robust environmental satellite system. The agency's satellite program is a critical 

 area of NOAA's supporting infrastructure. Over the last 30 years, satellites have 

 proven to be an efficient means of collecting vast quantities of essential environ- 

 mental data. 



CONCLUSION 



In closing, I would again like to stress the NOAA mission to promote global envi- 

 ronmental stewardship and to describe and predict changes in the Earth's environ- 

 ment. I thank the Chairman and the Memoers of the Committee for this oppor- 

 tunity to testify before you and look forward to working with you as we shape an 

 authorization plan for the future of NOAA. Together we can prove that economic 

 progress and environmental stewardship are not mutually exclusive. 



Senator KERRY. Thank you very much, Dr. Baker. 



Let me begin, if I may, with some questions on just some details 

 regarding the budget, if we can for a minute. 



If you look, the budget that you have presented us is reflective 

 of the strategic plan and the unification of the agency, if vou will, 

 but if you break that out and kind of look at it measured, against 

 the line items of each of last year's agencies, you effectively have 

 a very similar amount allocated in each case, with the exception of 

 a modest increase for NMFS. So, if you could say to me where your 

 greatest expectation is for the costsavings that you are planning on 

 getting, where would that be? 



Dr. Baker. Let me address that question in a general way first. 

 We feel that the strategic plan is a very important thing for us to 

 do, because it allows us to show where we think the agency should 

 be going and how we should try to address national priorities, but 

 it is not enough for us to say what we should do. We have to build 

 a very strong constituency. 



I think we have a strong constituency in Congress. We need to 

 build that same constituency in the administration and in the pub- 

 lic, and to the extent that such a constituency has been built for 

 the Weather Service and satellites, we see that reflected in a con- 

 tinuing support for Weather Service modernization. 



I believe we have to do the same thing for our coastal and fish- 

 eries efforts, and one of the reasons for our strategic plan was to 

 identify fisheries and coastal issues as very important for our agen- 

 cy to take on. 



Now, we were successful in convincing the Department of Com- 

 merce and the administration and 0MB that we should have an in- 

 crease in the National Marine Fisheries Service, and we have 

 about a $50 million increase in our budget. I believe that is the 

 first increase that has been proposed by the administration in a 

 long time. That came about, I believe, largely because we in NOAA, 

 working with you, have identified this as a very high priority. 



I think we have to continue to do that and to continue to push 

 both the fishery and the coastal issues the wav that the constitu- 

 ency has been built for the modernization of the Weather Service 



