Thursday December 21, 2006
National Integrated Drought Information System

Source: Western Governors Association

Update on NIDIS legislation (9/28/06)

H.R. 5136 passed the House on Tuesday evening (9/26/06) by a voice vote under suspension of the rules (which requires 2/3 vote to adopt). The companion bill, S.2751, passed the Senate Commerce Committee Wednesday (9/27/06) by a unanimous vote. It will now go to the Senate floor for final action. (See House & Senate press releases)

There may be an effort to get the bill done by Saturday when Congress is scheduled to recess, but that is probably unlikely. The Senate Committee still needs to file their Committee report, which may take a day or two. Additionally, Senate staffers said the bill would likely need to pass under "Unanimous Consent" in order to get it done by Saturday -- a very high bar. And, even if the Senate passes the bill in the next day or two, the Senate and House will still need to reconcile their two respective bills and both pass the same version before it can be sent to the President. So, although it is still possible to get it done by Saturday, the more likely scenario is for Congress to finalize action on the bill during the lame duck session after the elections.

Background

On June 21, 2004, the Western Governors unanimously adopted a report entitled, Creating a Drought Early Warning System for the 21st Century: The National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS). The system envisioned in the report will provide water users across the board – farmers, ranchers, utilities, tribes, land managers, business owners, recreationalists, wildlife managers, and decision-makers at all levels of government – with the ability to assess their drought risk in real time and before the onset of drought, in order to make informed decisions that may mitigate a drought’s impacts.

The report was developed over an 18-month period through a broad-based, collaborative process that brought together scientists with natural resources managers from across the country, representing various federal and state agencies and non-governmental organizations.

Recognition of droughts in a timely manner is dependent on our ability to monitor and forecast the diverse physical indicators of drought, as well as relevant economic, social and environmental impacts. NIDIS will coordinate and integrate a variety of observations, analysis techniques and forecasting methods in a system that will support drought assessment and decision-making at the lowest geopolitical level possible. The tools will allow users to access, transform and display basic data and forecasts across a range of spatial and temporal scales most suited to their individual needs.

On February 8, 2005 NOAA Administrator Lautenbacher announced the President's FY2006 Budget Request for NOAA. It includes $7.4 million to support NIDIS.

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