33 



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progran. The program, however, has had the continuous support of 

 Congress and has seen its appropriations increase from $3.3 

 million in Fiscal Year 1980 to approximately $16 million in 

 Fiscal Year 1993. During that period, the program has expanded 

 from one center to six, and the number of researchers 

 participating in NURP sponsored research programs has increased 

 from 48 to 1,361. For further information see NURP statistics 

 chart in Appendix V. 



WURP LEGISIATION 



During the 102nd Congress, Congressman Dennis Hertel introduced 

 legislation (H.R. 3247) to establish VUKP by statute. H.R. 3247 

 directed the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and 

 Atmosphere to establish a ITORP within NOAA. In the Bill, NXmP 

 was charged with carrying out scientific research in priority 

 research areas. An Office of Undersea Research headed by a 

 Program Director was established to administer the Program. 



Additional oversight of the Program was provided by a Steering 

 Committee appointed by the Under Secretary on: (1) the quality of 

 undersea research performed under the program; (2) designation 

 and establishment of undersea regions; (3) designation and 

 operation of undersea research centers; and (4) the need to 

 revise the priority research areas. 



The Director and the Steering Committee, using procedures 

 established in the bill would determine whether new undersea 

 research regions are necessary and where new centers should be 

 located in the newly-created regions designated by the bill. 

 However, the legislation did not allow new centers to be created 

 using funds previously allocated for existing centers. Also a 

 periodic review (every five years) was mandated to evaluate the 

 performance of each center and to make recommendations for 

 changes at the center. Finally, the bill authorized 

 appropriations for the program for $23 million for Fiscal Year 

 1993 up to $31.4 million for Fiscal Year 1997. 



H.R. 3247 passed the House on June 29, 1992, but no action was 

 taken in the Senate. 



ISSUES 



* Is the current geographic distribution of NURP-sponsored 

 research fair? 



* Underwater research is a portion of the research funded by the 

 National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, and 

 Sea Grant. Do we need a separate research program to fund just 

 undersea research? 



* Does the current National Undersea Research Program meet the 

 needs of the U.S. civilian undersea research community? 



* Is there adequate deep submergence capability available to 

 civilian researchers? How could funding for this be stabilized? 



