What's New: To receive these updates and announcements by email, manage your subscription, or review the mailing list archive, go to the NCSE List User Form. U.S. Geological Survey Budget Reconciled by House and Senate Negotiators The conference committee charged with reconciling differences between the House and Senate appropriations bills for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has reached an agreement that would set the agency's budget at $949.7 million, an increase of $30.2 million or 3.3 percent over FY 2003 (Table 1).   After accounting for a 0.6565 percent across-the-board reduction in the conference report (House Report 108-330), the budget for the USGS would increase by approximately 2.6 percent in FY 2004.  Most of the increase would be offset by inflation, mandatory salary increases, and related factors, leaving little room for programmatic growth.   The compromise reached by the conference committee represents a reversal of the 2.6 percent cut proposed in the Administration's FY 2004 budget request for the USGS.  It would increase funding for the USGS by $54.2 million or 6.1 percent relative to the Administration's FY 2004 budget request (Table 1). Rather than splitting the difference between the two chambers, the compromise reached by the conference committee would provide a larger increase for the USGS than either the Senate bill (1.0 percent) or the House bill (1.8 percent).  The conference report indicates that each chamber has largely accepted the increases in the appropriations bill passed by the other chamber.  The conference report also includes a number of earmarks—including projects in geologic hazards, invasive species, and water resources—which differ from the priorities established in the agency's budget request.    The conference report devotes considerable attention to the "recent malfunction of scanning equipment onboard the Landsat 7 earth observing satellite and the disappointing failure to correct the problem."  It notes that this failure has resulted in degraded data collected by the satellite, which could have adverse effects for the users of the data and could result in reduced data sales.   The conference report must be approved by the full House and Senate before the appropriations bill is sent to the President for his signature.  Final passage of the Interior appropriations bill is expected to occur within a few weeks, but it could be included in an omnibus bill with other appropriations measures.  The complete text of the House-Senate conference report is available online at http://thomas.loc.gov.  See the July 2003 issue of the Science, Environment and Policy Report for an analysis of the House and Senate appropriations bills.     USGS Coalition.  As a founding member of the USGS Coalition, the National Council for Science and the Environment participated in a series of inaugural meetings with officials at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Department of the Interior, and Congress.  The meetings addressed congressional action on USGS appropriations for FY 2004 and Administration's budget request for FY 2005.  On September 30th, the USGS Coalition sent a letter to members of the conference committee encouraging them to provide additional funding to "help USGS meet the tremendous need for science in support of public policy decision making."  Since it was founded, the USGS Coalition has attracted 15 new member organizations, expanding total membership from 37 to 52 in its first few months of existence.     Table 1.  U.S. Geological Survey Appropriations (budget authority in millions of dollars) ____________________________________________________________________________________________________                                                                                                                Change from request   Change from FY2003                                                                                    ($ millions)                    to FY 2004 Conf.     to FY 2004Conf   .   FY 2003 FY 2004 FY 2004   Amount Percent   Amount Percent USGS Activity/Subactivity                          Enacted1   Request      Conf.2   ($millions)          (%)   ($millions)           (%)                     Mapping, Remote Sensing, & Geog. Investigations                     Cooperative Topographic Mapping 81.1 74.1 81.5   7.4 10.0%   0.4 0.5%    Land Remote Sensing 35.7 34 34.0   0.0 0.1%   -1.7 -4.7%    Geog. Analysis and Monitoring 16.4 12.3 15.4   3.1 24.8%   -1.0 -6.4% Subtotal 133.2 120.5 130.9   10.4 8.6%   -2.3 -1.7%                     Geologic Hazards, Resources, and Processes                    Geol. Hazard Assess. 75 72.8 76.0   3.2 4.4%   1.0 1.3%    Geol. Landscape & Coastal Assess. 78.7 79.4 79.1   -0.3 -0.4%   0.4 0.5%    Geologic Resource Assess. 79.5 69.4 81.2   11.8 17.0%   1.7 2.2% Subtotal 233.2 221.6 236.3   14.7 6.6%   3.1 1.3%                     Water Resources Investigations                       Hydrol. Monitoring, Assess. & Rsch. 136.8 135.6 146.6   11.0 8.1%   9.8 7.2%    Cooperative Water Program 64.4 64.5 64.5   0.0 0.1%   0.1 0.2%    Water Resources Rsch. Act Program 6 0 6.5   6.5 --   0.5 8.3% Subtotal 207.2 200.1 217.7   17.6 8.8%   10.5 5.0%                     Biological Research                       Biological Rsch. and Monitoring 132.1 134 136.3   2.3 1.7%   4.2 3.2%    Biological Information Mgmt. & Deliv. 22.8 20.7 24.9   4.2 20.3%   2.1 9.2%    Cooperative Rsch. Units 14.9 14.1 14.9   0.8 5.6%   0.0 -0.1% Subtotal 169.8 168.9 176.1   7.2 return to updates return | home