House Natural Resources subcommittee holds hearing on proposed USGS FY 2016 budget

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March 24, 2015

On March 24, the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources held a hearing on the President’s fiscal year (FY) 2016 budget request.  Dr. Suzette Kimball, Acting Director of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), answered representatives’ questions about community resilience, earthquake early warning, LANDSAT, and mineral assessments.

Chairman Doug Lamborn (R-CO) expounded on the need for USGS to share its data and for that data to be available for states, particularly in the wake of disasters and during rebuilding. Chairman Lamborn also stated his interest in introducing legislation to prevent duplication of data. Dr. Kimball responded that the Department of the Interior (DOI) shares his concerns about data duplication and pointed to USGS work on 3D elevation as an example of research taking multiple data sources and purposes into account to prevent duplication.

Ranking Member Alan Lowenthal (D-CA) emphasized the impacts of induced seismicity referenced in a recent USGS report on over 60 years of trends in hydraulic fracturing. Rep. Lowenthal  said that hydraulic fracturing has progressed ahead of federal scientific understanding and urged USGS to focus research to compensate. Dr. Kimball explained that research on hydraulic fracturing has evolved substantially in the past 65 years and better instrumentation has allowed USGS to more fully identify and characterize human-induced seismicity through observation of earthquake swarms.