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SpatialNews Press Release
President's FY 2002 Budget for USGS -- Contributions to Energy Security and
America's Environment
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The President has proposed a budget of $813 million for the Interior Department’s U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in Fiscal Year 2002. This
budget request provides the same level of funding as 2000. The 2002 budget is approximately $70 million below 2001. The 2002 budget focuses
resources on core USGS programs, such as mapping and hazards, and those that directly support better land and natural resource management by
the Department of the Interior (DOI).
“USGS has played a key role in recent events where public health and safety were a primary concern such as the Seattle earthquake and the
outbreak of West Nile Virus in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic,” said USGS Director Charles Groat. “The President’s budget enables USGS to
continue its critical mission in monitoring for these and other hazards. At the same time, we are working with the other DOI bureaus to better
identify and provide the science needed for informed land and resource management decisions.”
Focusing scientific efforts on the Department’s land and resource management bureaus is a top Bush Administration priority for USGS, which
provides a broad range of expertise in mapping, geology, hydrology and biology. For instance, USGS is using this interdisciplinary expertise in
leading a national effort to determine the causes and extent of amphibian decline. “This is a good example of the work USGS is doing with and for
the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management which we will continue in FY2002,” said
Groat. The USGS will also continue to provide timely and unbiased scientific information to other federal agencies, state and local partners and
stakeholders to address increasingly complex resource, natural hazard and earth science issues.
Ongoing national assessments of coal, oil and natural gas, and other energy and mineral commodities, which have long been part of the mission of
the USGS, are providing a critical foundation in the formulation of an energy strategy for the nation. “USGS will continue to provide this reliable,
unbiased information that is important to the President's national strategy for a sound energy policy and to the nation as it continues to grow,” said
Groat.
To focus resources for these USGS activities, the budget proposes to reduce funding for one-time projects, Congressional add-ons, lower priority
programs, and specific programs that may be more appropriately funded by USGS partners. The budget also proposes to reduce funding for
programs that received extraordinary increases in 2001 back to their 2000, or more historical, funding level.
A significant portion ($30.0 million) of the proposed decreases affects two USGS water quality programs that primarily benefit other federal
agencies and states. The National Water-Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA) and the Toxic Substances Hydrology Program provide
extensive data and information to state and federal regulatory agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). These entities rely on
USGS to provide information to help them fulfill their own mission-critical responsibilities. The Department and USGS will work with EPA and
other beneficiaries of both programs in an effort to obtain partnership funding to maintain current scope and schedule in both programs.
As the nation's largest water, earth and biological science and civilian mapping agency the USGS works in cooperation with more than 2000
organizations across the country to provide reliable, impartial, scientific information to resource managers, planners, and other customers. This
information is gathered in every state by USGS scientists to minimize the loss of life and property from natural disasters, contribute to sound
economic and physical development of the nation's natural resources, and enhance the quality of life by monitoring water, biological, energy, and
mineral resources.
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