Committee Holds Hearing on Drought, Democrats Emphasize Need to Better Understand Climate Change’s Role
(Washington, DC) – Today, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology held a legislative hearing to examine the state of drought forecasting, monitoring, and decision making and the role of the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS). The Committee also discussed draft legislation to reauthorize the NIDIS Act of 2006. Testifying before the Committee were: Director of NOAA's National Integrated Drought Information System, Dr.Roger S. Pulwarty; Oklahoma Water Resources Board Executive Director, Mr. J.D. Strong; University of California at Irvine Professor, Dr. James Famiglietti; City of Indianapolis Mayor, Mr. Gregory Ballard; and Maryland Farm Bureau President, Ms. Patricia Langenfelder.
Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) said in her opening statement, “In my own home State of Texas, over the last few years, scant rainfall and high temperatures have conspired to wreak havoc on the economy…Given the potential for massive economic damage, we need to recognize droughts for what they are – an extreme weather event – and design policies accordingly…Just as we design policies, programs and infrastructure to make predictions and limit the impacts of other extreme weather events, we should strengthen our capacity to do the same for droughts. One tool at our disposal is NOAA’s NIDIS program. In its six years of existence, NIDIS has already provided important seasonal and long-term drought information that has aided countless communities in preparing for and mitigating the impacts of drought.”
The NIDIS Act, signed into law in 2006, is a collaborative effort between numerous federal agencies and several state governments to provide a dynamic and accessible drought-risk information system. NIDIS was created in response to extended drought conditions and is led and implemented by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NIDIS, in the last six years, has provided a better understanding of how and why droughts affect society, the economy, and the environment, and is improving accessibility, dissemination, and use of early warning information for drought risk management by a variety of stakeholders ranging from farmers to city planners. NIDIS incorporates the efforts of numerous federal agencies, tribal nations, emergency managers and planners, six Regional Climate Centers, state climatologists, local NOAA Weather Forecast Offices, and Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA).
Democratic Members expressed concern over the extreme drought conditions that are afflicting large parts of the U.S. and stressed the critical role of NIDIS in understanding drought and its impacts. In addition, Democratic Members highlighted the importance of considering the role of climate change when discussing drought, the increased need for proactive water management and planning, and the need for the development of better prediction and forecasting models.
“We cannot have a comprehensive approach to drought research and mitigation without exploring the potential linkages with a changing global climate. While I will be the first to urge caution in jumping to conclusions about the present-day impacts of a warming planet, I know that climatologists around the world are coming to a much better understanding of this complex relationship. We should leave the science to the scientists. To play politics and categorically deny the linkage between climate change and extreme weather is both irrational and irresponsible. Policymakers at every level have a duty to protect public welfare, and ignoring the realities of climate change simply leaves us less-informed and ill-prepared for catastrophic events such as droughts and floods,” said Ms. Johnson.
Witnesses made numerous suggestions on how to improve NIDIS such as support for better monitoring tools and predictions, drought preparedness and public education, and ensuring that there is the necessary funding for NIDIS to go beyond just a role of coordination. Witnesses also mentioned the importance of NASA’s and NOAA’s satellites in advancing our understanding of drought and in improving our drought preparation capabilities. The satellite programs provide information on rainfall rates, areas of groundwater depletion, and other critical weather and climate information the country has come to rely upon.
Dr. Famiglietti said, “The links between climate change and increasing extremes like flooding and drought are becoming much better established. They have been predicted by the IPCC for a number of years now, and more research is being conducted that is bearing that out.” He went on to describe research that he has been involved with using the GRACE Mission, a satellite program at NASA that has been in polar orbit for ten years. He said, “In that ten year time period we have seen that the water cycle and where it is strengthening, and by strengthening I mean more precipitation and more evaporation and therefore more storms and more droughts. So we’re working on quantifying the frequency and intensity of flooding and drought, and even in just a ten year time period, we are seeing some increases and figuring out how to quantify them.”
Mr. J.D. Strong said, “Specific to development of a drought early warning system, which is a key goal of the program and central to effective drought preparedness and response, NIDIS should work to advance climate observation. Scientists at NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center and elsewhere should focus efforts on evaluation of such things as sea surface temperature variations and La Niña events to forecast, with the greatest accuracy and most advanced warning time possible, the onset and severity of particular drought events.”
Ms. Johnson said after the hearing, “The NIDIS program is an essential part of understanding and preparing for drought. The witnesses’ testimony will be helpful as we prepare to reauthorize the NIDIS Act of 2006 and seek to make NIDIS a more effective and useful system.”
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