The White House’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2023, released earlier this week, gives an $18 billion boost to climate resilience and adaptation programs across the federal government.
Specifically, the proposed budget allocates $6.9 billion to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which boosts the agency’s funding by $1.4 billion from the fiscal year 2022 Continuing Resolution.
NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad said, “The FY 2023 budget will allow NOAA to scale our efforts to deliver accurate climate products and services to all Americans by building on our research, forecasts, and observations.”
Dr. Spinrad noted that while the release of the President’s budget is just one step in a larger federal budget process, he views the proposed funding as a “down payment in building the Climate Ready Nation we urgently need.”
The increased funding notably includes an investment of $2.3 billion in NOAA’s next generation of weather satellites, as well as added support for the agency’s efforts to deploy offshore wind energy, protect marine wildlife, catalyze wind energy and restore habitats.
At the start of March, NASA launched its third GOES-T satellite in a constellation that gathers weather data for NOAA and allows the agency to better predict and understand the effects of climate change-related weather events.
The FY23 budget was released amid predictions of worsening droughts in the American West and on the heels of the seventh warmest February on record, highlighting the urgency behind increased support to climate-focused agencies.
To learn more about NOAA’s work to mitigate climate change, join GovCon Wire Events for its NOAA: A Conversation With Mary Erickson Fireside Chat on Apr 5th.
Mary Erickson currently serves as acting assistant administrator for weather services and the acting director of the National Weather Service at NOAA. In her role, Erickson has a focus on reducing the impacts of extreme weather and climate events on American citizens and organizations.
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