Waxman-Markey Bill to create new National Climate Service

In addition to initiating an extensive cap-and-trade regime to curb domestic greenhouse gas production, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 will also create a new National Climate Service to advance understanding of climate variability and change, and provide timely and authoritative information to the government, public-, and private-sectors on climate variations and trends, as well as their potential impacts at the local, regional, and global scales.

While it is true that our capacity for climate observation and data collection has progressed significantly over the years, such information is often incomplete and insufficient to meet the needs of important decision- and policy-makers. The problem is in part an organizational one. The responsibility for climate data collection is currently diffused among disparate federal bureaus and other important domestic and international players that lack interagency coordination and have overlapping responsibilities. What is missing is a means to coordinate climate research and connect this information to decision-relevant questions that foster local, regional, and national capabilities to plan for and adapt to climate variation and change.

Enter the National Climate Service.

Originally introduced as independent legislation by Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN), the Chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology, the National Climate Service Act of 2009 was inserted into Section 452 of the 12,000+ page Waxman-Markey bill, set to reach the Senate floor by summer’s end. The act calls for the creation of the National Climate Service within NOAA to facilitate interagency cooperation in climate science. It will rationalize data collection and create the informational infrastructure necessary to direct smart policy.

The legislation requires the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), through the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources (CENR) of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), to head a comprehensive study to evaluate the bureaucratic structure necessary to create a collaborative, operational, interagency research program to meet the needs of decision-makers. The study will work to rationalize climate observation, delineating responsibilities for mandated data collection among various federal agencies to be compiled at the Climate Service Office into a product which scientists and policy-makers can use. The OSTP report must be presented to Congress within two years of the passage of the bill, with the National Climate Service to be created within three years.

Yet, federal agencies are not the only ones with a role to play in the new National Climate Service. The legislation continually stresses the role that stakeholders – state and local governments, the academic community, and the private-sector - should play in the development of climate services. It calls for the creation of six regional climate centers to facilitate the collection and exchange of information between the states and federal government. This structure also allows for collective coordination to tackle regional climate challenges, such as response plans to mitigate the threat of hurricanes in the Gulf or desertification in the Midwest.

Furthermore, the bureaucratic overhaul proposed in the legislation will provide significant opportunity for innovation in the private-sector. Not only will the U.S. government seek to expand its own observation capabilities, but corporations can also use the data collected to craft a wide range of services and products to meet the needs of private-sector users. The legislation is forward-looking in that it requires a comprehensive assessment of the current climate products and services, as well as the potential for new users and new technologies.

Thus, the creation of the new National Climate Service will serve to advance our understanding of climate variation and change, increase societal resilience to climate impacts through support for local and regional response plans, spark innovation in the new demand for climate products and services, and most importantly, provide decision-relevant information to policymakers to direct future government action and legislation. Good information is a prerequisite for good policy. Indeed, the informational infrastructure of the National Climate Service will prove essential as our nation moves to confront the causes and impacts of global climate change.

Joshua C. Roberts
Intern, CSIS Technology and Public Policy Program

References:
Text of H.R.2454 as Engrossed in House: American Clean Energy And Security Act of 2009
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h2454/text Article: House Committee on

Science and Technology Passes National Climate Service Bill
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=28347

PNAS report: An approach to designing a national climate service
http://www.pnas.org/content/103/52/19616.full.pdf+html