usgs

Congress passes FY 2018 omnibus with record funding of geoscience agencies

U.S. Money

Congress passed a $1.3 trillion spending bill on March 23 that will fund the federal government through September 2018. The 2,232-page bill, entitled the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018, rejects the Administration’s proposed deep cuts to federal science agencies. Instead, many science agencies received increased funding, in part due to the increased budget authority for FY 2018 non-defense discretionary spending agreed to last month in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018.

For more information on the federal budget process, including a more detailed programmatic funding analysis for geoscience-related agencies, please visit AGI’s Overview of Fiscal Year 2018 Appropriations.

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee considers Dr. James Reilly for USGS Director

The White House

On March 6, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a hearing to consider the nomination of Dr. James Reilly to be Director of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski welcomed Dr. Reilly in her opening statement, acknowledging her initial surprise that an astronaut was nominated to run the USGS, but imparting her confidence in Dr. Reilly’s extensive geoscience education and career. Senators at the hearing questioned Dr. Reilly about protecting scientific integrity, defending USGS funding, and specific issues facing their respective states. 

To track the progress of key geoscience nominees, please visit AGI’s federal nominations page at https://www.americangeosciences.org/policy/federal-nominations.

National Academies release second decadal survey for earth observations from space

Earth

Last month, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine released a report titled Thriving on Our Changing Planet: A Decadal Strategy for Earth Observation from Space. Commissioned by the civilian agencies involved with space-based Earth observations – the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the U.S. Geological Survey – the study identifies key science and application priorities for 2017-2027. The report calls for the overall U.S. government’s program of Earth observations from space to be robust, resilient, and appropriately balanced, and for federal agencies to ensure efficient and effective use of U.S. resources.

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee holds hearing on natural hazards programs

Cracked road from earthquake

On January 30, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a full committee hearing to address the role of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), U.S. Forest Service (USFS), and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in preparing for and responding to natural hazards, as well as the current status of mapping and monitoring systems. Several witnesses testified regarding early warning systems and programs for earthquake, volcano, and tsunami hazards.

White House announces intent to nominate Director of the U.S. Geological Survey and re-nominates heads of key science agencies

Earth from Space showing Africa and Antarctica

President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate Dr. James Reilly to be Director of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) at the Department of the Interior. After a 13-year career at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Dr. Reilly currently serves as a technical advisor on space operations for the U.S. Air Force’s National Security Space Institute in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Dr. Reilly worked for 15 years as an oil and gas exploration geologist with Enserch Exploration, Inc. prior to joining NASA. After 98 presidential nominees were rejected on January 3, President Trump sent a list of several of these nominations back to the Senate on January 8 seeking to fill other key science positions in his administration.

USGS releases new assessment of oil and gas resources in Alaska’s North Slope, following annual lease sale

Drilling rig

On December 22, the USGS released a new assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A). Just weeks before release of the USGS report, the Bureau of Land Management held its annual oil and gas lease sale for all available tracts in the NPR-A on December 6. The sale lasted less than 10 minutes and received only 7 bids.

Historical Topo #Maps Available from New TopoView 2.1 #geoscience

Phone displaying TopoVIew
The USGS TopoView enhancement, TopoView 2.1, brings historical topo maps to your fingertips in the popular open-source mapping platform. Users can compare historical maps with modern day maps to see how the landforms and regional names have changed over time. In addition to accessing the historical maps, additional upgrades to previous versions were made based on user feedback. 

USGS Publishes Updated State Geologic Map Compilation #geoscience #geology

Cover of the SGMC Report from the USGS
The USGS published an update to the State Geologic Map Compilation (SGMC) geodatabase of the conterminous United States. It represents a seamless, spatial database of 48 State geologic maps that range from 1:50,000 to 1:1,000,000 scale, and this version includes updated data for six states, data for seven entirely new states, and numerous corrected errors since the preliminary dataset was launched.

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