|
Go to: -Table.
Dept. of the Interior R&D in FY 2008 Senate Appropriations PDF
version of this document Main
R&D in the FY 2008 Budget Page
Supplemental
Materials: "USGS R&D Climbs
in House Plan," AAAS R&D Funding Update on Interior R&D in FY
2008 House Appropriations "USGS
R&D Falls Again in 2008 Proposal," AAAS R&D Funding Update on
R&D in the FY 2008 Interior Budget AAAS
Analysis of R&D in the FY 2008 Budget -
| Highlights -
R&D in Interior’s lead science agency, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS),
would increase 3.0 percent or $17 million to $581 million in the latest Senate
plan for 2008, less than the House appropriation but well above a requested cut
(see Table). -
The House and Senate are united in restoring funding to requested cuts
in mineral resources R&D and water R&D programs, but the Senate would
decline to join the House in adding $10 million in new money for USGS climate
change research. -
R&D in the Department of the Interior would gain 3.7 percent to $658 million
in the Senate, reversing a downward trend in Interior R&D funding for six
of the last seven years. USGS R&D in FY 2008 Senate Appropriations On
June 21, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its version of the FY 2008
Interior-Environment appropriations bill (S 1696) providing funding for the Department
of the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
and other natural resources and environment programs, for consideration by the
full Senate in July. The House debated and approved its version on June 27. Both
the House and Senate bills contain more than $27 billion in 2008 discretionary spending, $1 billion more than the current
year but nearly $2 billion more than the President’s requested cut for these programs.
The
Department of the Interior manages most of the publicly owned lands in the United States, from the national park system to Indian lands
to publicly owned mines. R&D to support Interior’s land management responsibilities
would total $658 million in the Senate appropriation for FY 2008, like the overall
Interior bill an increase over 2007 (up 3.7 percent) in contrast to a requested
cut (see Table). The House would provide $20 million
more than the Senate for Interior R&D. (For details of House appropriations
for Interior R&D, see the June 13 AAAS R&D Funding
Update. For details of the FY 2008 request for Interior R&D, see Chapter
12 of AAAS Report XXXII: R&D FY 2008
or the March 7 AAAS R&D Funding Update.) The
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is the
primary sponsor of R&D in Interior. USGS is one of the leading federal sponsors
of earth sciences research. Within the earth sciences, USGS is particularly important
in geological hazards research, including research on earthquakes and volcanoes.
USGS is also a leading sponsor of water resources research and biological research.
While the FY 2008 budget proposes substantial increases for key physical sciences
research programs, the President’s budget proposes $975 million for the earth
sciences-oriented USGS budget, a cut of $13 million from the 2007 level after
adjusting for emergency appropriations enacted at the end of May. But the House
would add $58 million to the request for a total USGS budget exceeding $1.0 billion,
and the Senate would add $35 million to the request to also top $1 billion (see
Table). USGS
R&D totals $581 million in the FY 2008 Senate appropriation, an increase of
$17 million or 3.0 percent instead of a requested cut (see Table).
Just over half of the USGS budget is devoted to R&D activities, with the remainder
going for science support, data gathering and dissemination, facilities operations,
mapping, and natural hazards reduction. Although the House would provide $20 million
more than the Senate for USGS R&D, the House and Senate are in agreement that
R&D funding would increase in all four USGS research divisions, while the
House is so far going it alone in adding $10 million in new funding for climate
change research. The
Geologic Hazards, Resources, and Processes Division would see its R&D funding
increase 2.6 percent in the Senate instead of falling by 7 percent, in a repeat
of an annual ritual in which USGS proposes to cut the mineral resources program
nearly in half but both the House and Senate intervene to keep funding at current
levels. As in past years, both the House and now the Senate strongly disagree
with USGS’ rationale that minerals research could be funded by the private sector,
and both reaffirm the federal role in minerals research with restored funding
of $52 million instead of the $30 million request. In another earth sciences-related
division, Geographic Research would increase $2 million to $46 million in the
Senate plan. Water
Resources R&D would increase $2 million to $128 million in both the House
and the Senate instead of a requested cut. USGS put forward its perennial proposal
to eliminate federal funding for the water resources research institutes for a
savings of $5 million, but as in past years both chambers of Congress
reject the proposal and would preserve the federal role in these cooperatively
funded institutes, at a funding level of $6 million in 2008. The Cooperative Water
Program would stay at $64 million instead of a requested cut. This program supports
the collection of basic hydrologic data, studies of specific water-resources problems,
and hydrologic research through USGS partnerships with state governments and other
entities. There would be a slight increase for the National Water Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA) to $65 million;
NAWQA is charged with monitoring the nation’s water quality,
and its data are used by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and many state
regulatory agencies. USGS biological research programs would increase $6 million
to $182 million. The
House, but not the Senate, would add $10 million to the USGS budget specifically
for climate change research (see Table) for “vital research efforts of Survey
scientists related to various aspects of global climate change,” according to
report language accompanying the Interior bill. Although details are sketchy,
the funds would presumably be distributed among the four USGS research divisions.
Figure 1. (click on the image for
PDF) Other Interior Agencies Although
USGS is the primary science agency in Interior, four other Interior bureaus also
fund R&D (see Table). These include funds for
minerals and mining research in the Minerals and Management Service (MMS), wildfire
prevention research in the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), water resources research
in the Bureau of Reclamation, and R&D for the Florida Everglades restoration
and other park-related projects in the National Park Service. R&D funding
for all four agencies would increase in the House and Senate plans. Impacts of the FY 2008 Interior Budget Although
physical sciences research would be a high priority in the FY 2008 budget request,
environmental research funding would decline along with other domestic programs.
But House and Senate appropriators have signaled that environmental science
will be a key priority, especially in the area of climate change, and that they
will try to reverse recent budget trends. The FY 2008 increase for Interior
R&D in the House and now the Senate would be a small break from recent trends,
in which Interior R&D has declined in real terms for six of the last seven
years (see Figure 1). Interior R&D has declined sharply since FY 1994, primarily
because of the elimination of the Bureau of Mines in FY 1996 and the merging of
the former National Biological Service into USGS in the mid-1990s. After a large
increase in FY 2000, Interior R&D has been mostly flat since then, resulting
in steady losses after adjusting for inflation. 84 percent of Interior’s R&D
is performed in-house, with only 8 percent performed at universities and colleges.
Industries, state governments, and nonprofits combined perform the remaining 8
percent of Interior R&D. Outlook
and Next Steps The
full Senate is expected to debate and approve the Interior-Environment bill in
July, following on the full House’s approval of its version on June 27. Congress
will try to send a final version of the bill to President Bush before the October
1 start of FY 2008. The President has threatened to veto any 2008 appropriations
bill that exceeds his request, as both versions do by nearly $2 billion, so the
bill may have a long way to go before its funding levels become final. -
June 29, 2007
AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program
1200 New York Avenue,
NW
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 326-6607
AAAS R&D Web site: http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd
|
