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Wonder why the NWS is broke?
NOAA is Looking to Hire a Magician to Develop Leadership Skills
(May 3, 2012) NOAA is putting its faith in magic. The organization released a Request for Quotation on May 1 for a magician to work at their June 12- 14 leadership training conference.
There’s no magic behind the numbers, but some are wondering if this is how NOAA makes their money disappear.
Today’s article in Government Executive highlights this most recent act of wasteful spending.
http://www.govexec.com/management/2012/05/noaa-seeks-magician-training-conference/55565/
National Council on Federal Labor-Management Relations
"Report to the President on Negotiation Over Permissive Subjects of Bargaining: Pilot Projects"
(May 3, 2012) The National Council on Federal Labor-Management Relations has issued the “Report to the President on Negotiation Over Permissive Subjects of Bargaining: Pilot Projects”. The report is now available on the Council web page at: www.lmrcouncil.gov. It is located on this page under the “What’s New” and “Latest Information” sections.
A direct link to the report is: http://www.lmrcouncil.gov/meetings/handouts/President.pdf
National Weather Service Plans Dangerous Personnel Cuts
Despite Funding and Support from Congress for NWS Positions
(May 3, 2012) The National Weather Service is making plans for dangerous cuts at Weather Forecast Offices, with no regard to support and funding from both the House and Senate to keep those same positions. In late April, both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees approved an increase in NWS funding over FY 12 with specific statements supporting the ITO position at WFOs nationwide.
In his employee news column, “The Director’s Corner,” NWS Director Jack Hayes is telling NWS employees that the NWS is developing plans to "mitigate any impacts from reductions" and that the NWS is seeking Voluntary Early Retirement Authority and the Voluntary Separation Incentive programs. The request will target specific positions rather than NWS employees broadly.
Additionally, NWS has already announced they will not be filling numerous vacant ITO positions and has begun reassigning ITOs to vacant forecast positions.
“This demonstrates an enormous and dangerous amount of arrogance on the part of the National Weather Service leadership,” said NWSEO President Dan Sobien. “The ITO positions have full bi-partisan support of Congress, the National Weather Service is actually one of the few agencies that received an increase in funding for FY13, and yet NWS leaders are trying to cut positions and then blame it on funding.”
Below are comments from the House and Senate Appropriations Committees:
From the House- "The Committee does not support NOAA's proposal to reduce funding for information technology positions at each of the Weather Forecast offices. Eliminating these positions during deployment of Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) upgrade is risky. In addition, NOAA has not yet developed a thorough concept for where the proposed information technology development teams would be located, how many technicians would be on each team, or how they would be deployed if more than four information technology teams arose at the same time."
From the Senate- "The Committee does not approve of the administration's plan to reduce the NWS IT staff by 80 percent, which would affect 122 employees by cutting 98 computer technician positions in local field offices and consolidating the remaining 24 positions into six regional offices. Every Local Weather Field Office across America would be affected by these cuts. The United States experienced some of the most devastating severe weather on record in 2011, and 2012 is already shaping up to be another damaging year. According to the NWS, the recent February 28 to March 2, 2012 severe storm outbreak spawned 230 tornadoes across 14 States, killing 54 people. Without NOAA's warnings, more lives would have been lost, and IT staff have proven to be valuable parts of the local weather forecast teams. In addition, NOAA needs a strong IT workforce now for the same reason the agency originally hired more IT staff in 2000, which was to help with network upgrades."
Why is the NWS broke?
The chart below shows the three lines in the NWS annual budget appropriations that directly support forecasting activities and employee salaries – “Local Warnings and Forecast Base”; “Aviation Weather” and “Central Forecast Guidance” (the later is NCEP funding). The combined amounts have increased 8.5% over the past three years. Although the President proposed to cut this amount for FY 13, both the House and Senate have increased funding by $9 million over FY 2012 levels – which would mean that the NWS will receive a 10% increase over four years.
YEAR |
2009 |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
PB-2013 |
Senate-2013 |
House-2013 |
LWF Base |
$601,876 |
$617,842 |
$628,121 |
$631,168 |
$628,564 |
$640,000 |
$639,905 |
Aviation Wx |
5,253 |
11,363 |
11,538 |
21,470 |
21,452 |
21,452 |
21,452 |
Central Forecast Guidance |
67,253 |
79,525 |
79,208 |
78,845 |
79,224 |
79,224 |
79,224 |
TOTAL |
$674,382 |
$708,730 |
$718,867 |
$731,483 |
$729,240 |
$741,076 |
$740,581 |
-NWSEO-
April 19, 2012 NWSEO Recruitment Drive
Member Letter on Recruitment
Letter sent to Non-members
Thank you to the House and Senate for Recognizing
the Importance of Funding theITO position and the NWS
(April 19, 2012) Funding for the ITOs has just been restored in the bill released by the House Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Subcommittee at this morning's "mark-up" meeting. In fact, the Subcommittee has funded the NWS at more than the President's budget request.
In his opening statement, Subcommittee Chairman Frank Wolf (R-VA) rebuked the Administration for attempting to cut the ITOs and other aspects of the NWS:
"I am also committed to making critical investments in forecasting and disaster preparedness to save lives and protect property. Some have recently stated that somehow the House Budget Resolution would result in weather forecasts becoming less accurate.
"I want to be clear: this bill funds the National Weather Service above the President’s request, restoring risky personnel cuts that the administration proposed to be taken from forecast offices nationwide.
"The bill includes an increase of $126 million for Weather Satellite acquisitions, including the full amount requested, $916 million, for the new JPSS satellite program. This funding is necessary to better protect Americans from natural disasters, such as tornados, hurricanes and tsunamis.
"We all remember the devastation of the tsunami that struck Japan last year. This bill also rejects the administration’s proposed cuts to NOAA’s tsunami programs, restoring $4.6 million for tsunami mitigation and detection buoys."
This morning, the full Senate Appropriations Committee also approved the funding bill approved earlier this week by the Senate Commerce, Justice and Science Subcommittees funding bill. As reported by NWSEO earlier this week, this bill also restores funding for the ITOs.
Funding decisions made this week by the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittee are only the first stage in a long process that will lead to the ultimate adoption of funding for DOC and its agencies, and things can change along the way. NWSEO members still need to keep up their efforts to ensure that funding for the ITOs and other aspects of the NWS are restored. However, the fact that both the Republican and Democratic leadership in BOTH Houses of Congress support keeping the ITOs and oppose the Administration's efforts to cut the NWS should give us confidence that, with continued hard work, we will prevail.
-NWSEO-
Senate Appropriations Subcommittee takes NOAA to the Woodshed-
Saves ITO jobs
(April 17, 2012) The Senate Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Subcommittee, today, approved by a vote of 17 to 1, a FY13 funding bill that rejects the NWS's request to eliminate ITOs at 122 WFOs. The bill also strips NOAA of all responsibility for acquisition and management of the nation's weather satellites, although NOAA will continue to have responsibility for operation of the satellites once in orbit. Subcommittee Chair Mikulski explained at today's subcommittee meeting that there was bi-partisan agreement to strip NOAA of its responsibility to manage satellite development and procurement because of NOAA leadership's mismanagement. Senator Mikulski praised the work of the NWS at today's hearing at the same time she criticized NOAA management.
The bill approved by the Subcommittee funds NOAA at $3.4 billion for next year, a reduction of $1.47 billion. According to a press release issued by the Subcommittee, "the bill does not support proposed cuts to NOAA's operations that would hurt local communities, such as eliminating local weather forecast staff and reducing the Tsunami Warning Network. Instead, the committee finds financial savings by consolidating management offices and reducing government overhead. The bill transfers funding needed for weather satellite acquisition from NOAA to NASA, realizing a savings of $117 million in FY 13."
Further details on the bill will not be available until it is approved by the full Senate Appropriations Committee, which is expected to meet on Thursday, April 19. The bill must then be approved by the full Senate. The House Commerce Justice and Science Appropriations Subcommittee will "mark-up" or vote on its version of the funding bill on Thursday as well. Whatever version of the funding bill that is eventually enacted by the House will later have to be reconciled with the version approved by the Senate before it is submitted to the President.
-NWSEO-
Budget Cuts to National Weather Service Revealed
(April 5, 2012) The NOAA budget request “blue book” summarizes the President's proposed budget for the 2012 and identifies several cuts to the National Weather Service.
Another technical document, the official "budget justification" is submitted to the appropriations committees. The section on the NWS is 109 pages long. NWSEO General Counsel, Richard Hirn has done a careful analysis of this information and has learned about numerous additional cuts and terminations. The Administration's own document concedes that these reductions will result in less accurate and timely warnings of tornados, floods, severe thunderstorms, hurricanes and tsunamis. You can access this document at:
http://www.osec.doc.gov/bmi/budget/13CJ/NOAA_FY_2013_PB.pdf
Below is a summary of cuts from that document including quotes directly from the source:
Elimination of the Information Technology Officers at each of the 122 forecast offices for a savings of $9.7 million.
Air Quality Forecasting: The President proposes to terminate the National Air Quality Forecasts of ozone and particulate matter for a savings of $3.1 million. According to the President’s budget justification, these forecasts are “used by EPA for health-based air quality index summaries and by state and local agencies who issue Air Quality Index (e.g. Code Orange) forecasts.” This reduction will also “discontinue support for continued research and development of air quality models and chemical data assimilation including those efforts focused on aerosol, dust and particulate matter prediction.”
Wind Profiler Network: Elimination of the 32 vertical looking radars that track upper air wind profiles that detect potential development of severe weather in the continental U.S. for a savings of $2.4 million in operational and $1.7 million in procurement costs. According to the agency’s own budget justification, “the wind profilers also provide information that leads to improved forecasts of other types of severe weather, such as tornados and winter storms, and provides useful information for issuing aviation advisories and wildfire protections.” Data from the wind profilers “has improved probability of detection, decreased false alarm rate, and improved time for tornado warnings, severe thunderstorms, flash floods and winter storms.” Thirty of the 32 wind profilers that will be shut down “are located in the central U.S. along Tornado Alley.”
Coastal Weather Data Buoys: Reduction of $2 million in funding for buoy sustainment. According to President’s budget justification, “reduced funding will delay routine operations and maintenance and failure response, and slow design and procurement of environmentally safe moorings.” As a result, there will be only 73% data availability and ultimately a 10% reduction in the number of marine observations that would have been obtained without the cuts.
Tsunami Warning Program: The President proposes to terminate grant funding for education and awareness programs and to reduce funding for maintenance of the DART buoy network, for a savings of $4.6 million. According to the President’s own budget justification, the reduction in funding for maintenance of the buoys “is expected to lower network data availability from 80% to 72% . . . [W]ithout this data, [tsunami] warnings may extend to a larger area than necessary for a longer time.” As a result of the reduction in education and awareness funding, “the cumulative number of communities that NOAA designates as adequately prepared for a tsunami” will be reduced from 140 to 115.
National Mesonet Network: A network of automated weather observation stations that are spaced closer together and report more frequently than the NWS’s synoptic scale observing network (“ASOS”). Elimination of funding for this observation network will save $11 million.
Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service: Reduction in funding of $2 million or 24% of overall total for program that provides forecasts of river levels and river flow volumes from an hour to a season, including river forecast information such as: how high the river will rise, when the river will reach its peak, where property will be flooded, how long flooding will continue and how long a drought will last. AHPS also provides better information to water managers and city officials, helping them make decisions about water allocation and economics such as: when and where to evacuate people, how to use reservoir storage capacity and release to reduce flood impacts on people and businesses, and when to reinforce levees and at what level, to help reduce damage to areas nearby.
Weather Forecast Office Maintenance: Reduction of $ .8 million in funding. According to the President’s budget justification, “as WFOs continue to age, the facilities require continued maintenance” but as a result of this reduction, the NWS “will reduce its efforts to address backlogged repairs.”
Hurricane Forecast Improvement Project: $ .4 million in reduction in efforts to improve hurricane track and intensity forecast error. According to the President’s own budget justification, the hurricane track and intensity error rates are anticipated to be greater than if the program remained at currently funded levels.
Hurricane Forecast Improvement Project- Research and Development Supercomputer: $2 million or 50% reduction in funding for computer resources will reduce capacity that is being used to support hurricane track and intensity forecast improvements.
Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System Tech Infusion: According to the President’s budget justification, this $3.5 million in reduction in funding for forecasting software systems “will slow implementation of new tools and capabilities aimed at improving decision support services including improved data delivery. . .” The anticipated annual number of “new capabilities and products to sustain operations and effectively access and process data, resulting in better forecasts and warnings” will be cut in half from 50-60 to 20-30.
NWSEO continues its work to keep the NWS fully funded for Fiscal Year 2013 and in the future during these tight budget years. The union is using all of its resources to win this budget battle. We appreciate your support and membership and we encourage you to recruit new members to help us with this cause. Membership is the strength of NWSEO.
-NWSEO-
March 29, 2012
Washington Post, March 29, 2012
National Weather Service Budget Cuts Misguided, Misplaced
Spring Council Meeting Update
NWSEO Restructures – Adds Two New Regions
NWSEO Meets with Ranking member of CJS subcommittee Congressman Fattah –
Highlights the Importance of ITO Positions at each WFO
printable copy
(March 23, 2012) The NWSEO National Council met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 10 and 11 for their annual meeting to discuss NWSEO issues and direction. A complete report of the Spring Council Meeting is available on the NWSEO Convention News page at http://nwseo.org/convention.php
Highlights of the meeting include a meeting with Congressman Chaka Fattah and the restructuring of NWSEO to add two new regions.
NWSEO adds Two New Regions: NCEP and NWS Headquarters Regions
The NWSEO National Council held a discussion on how to best ensure that all members had union representation. In the past two years, NWSEO membership at NWS Headquarters has grown from 24 to 100 members. NCEP membership now exceeds 120 members. In the past, Executive Vice President Bill Hopkins has represented NCEP in addition to his full time duties as the NWSEO’s vice president. At Headquarters, Steve Pritchett has represented NWS HQ, fulfilling the entire role of regional chair without the title. The recent growth in membership in these areas is placing demands that require a regional chair to ensure representation.
The National Council felt it was important to provide representation and discussed ways to create the regions with no additional cost to NWSEO, since the new regions were not in the annual budget. After lengthy discussion and input from all members of the National Council, it was decided to create the two regions, and replace the annual Spring Council Meeting (SCM) with quarterly call-in meetings, including all regions, to discuss National issues. Additionally, the National Council will add one to one-and-one-half additional days before and/or after the National Convention to conduct a National Council Meeting. The cost saving from the elimination of the SCM should allow for the creation of 2 additional regions plus costs.
NWS HQ and NCEP will each become a region and will have an election and vote for Regional Chairs at the National Convention.
NWSEO Meets with Ranking member of CJS subcommittee Congressman Fattah –
Highlights the Importance of ITO Positions at each WFO
NWSEO was honored to have Representative Chaka Fattah, (D-PA) attend the Spring Council Meeting. Congressman Fattah is the Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee. NWSEO Regional Chairs introduced themselves and explained the work they do specific to weather and geographical issues of their region. NWSEO President Dan Sobien made a passionate plea for the Congressman’s help in preserving the Information Technology Officer (ITO) positions. The meeting focused on important role the WFO ITOs play in the Agency’s mission of protecting lives and property.
NWSEO General Counsel Richard Hirn told the Congressman that the NWS is already implementing the plan to cut ITO positions before Congress gets a chance to weigh in on the issue. He explained that currently NWS is not filling ITO positions across the country when they become vacant. Dan Sobien told the Congressman that there are rumblings of more budget cuts to the NWS in Fiscal Year 2014 and the elimination of other NWS positions could be coming.
Congressman Fattah listened to the National Council with great interest. He later showed his understanding and support of the work of the ITO and the NWS at the March 20 budget hearing and in an article in Wednesday’s edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
For a complete report of the discussion and work at the Spring Council Meeting, visit the NWSEO Convention News page at http://nwseo.org/convention.php.
-NWSEO-
March 21, 2012
Philadelphia Inquirer, Anthony Woods reports:
Weather Service worries about White House's proposed cuts to it's budget
Charleston City Paper, Paul Bowers reports:
Obama budget would eliminate IT jobs at National Weather Service
Lubchenco Faces Bipartisan Criticism From
House Appropriations Committee Over ITO Cuts –
And Answers “I don’t know” to Virtually Every
Question about NWS Operations.
(March 21, 2012) NOAA’s plan to eliminate 122 ITO positions came under attack during a hearing on NOAA’s FY 13 budget request on Tuesday, March 20. The Chairman of the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Subcommittee, Frank Wolf (R-VA) and the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee (most senior Democrat) Chaka Fattah (D-PA) both expressed their objections to eliminating the ITOs during their questioning of NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco.
Chairman Wolf began his questioning of Dr. Lubchenco by saying he was concerned about the elimination of the ITOs and asked her, “What are they responsible for; how do they work?” She was unable to answer the question but responded instead that the agency’s plan “takes advantage of new technology that is available in a more uniform and reliable fashion.” Chairman Wolf then asked Lubchenco, “How many personnel are there at each WFO?” She responded, “I don’t know.” Wolf asked how many meteorologists there are at each forecast office, and if they work around-the-clock shifts? Lubchenco’s answer, “I don’t know.” Chairman Wolf asked how long it would take to deploy the remote mobile ITO teams to a WFO where there was a problem. Lubchenco’s answer, “I don’t know.” Wolf then asked where the ITO teams will be stationed. Lubchenco responded, “I don’t know.” Wolf then asked how long would it take for the remote ITO teams to get to a WFO? Lubchenco replied, “I don’t know – but there will be better and more reliable service” than there is now.
Chairman Wolf also criticized NOAA’s plans to reduce funding to maintain the buoys used for tsunami warnings. When Dr. Lubchenco assured the committee that this would not reduce the effectiveness of the tsunami warnings, Chairman Wolf confronted her with NOAA’s own budget submission that states “warnings may extend to a larger area than necessary and for a longer time.” At one point Chairman Wolf told Lubchenco, “your folks" (the NWS employees) did a great job with the early warning of the severe tornado outbreak. She said that the advance notice was due to the weather satellites!
The senior Democrat on the committee, Rep. Fattah, told Dr. Lubchenco that he “shared the Chairman’s concerns” about eliminating the ITOs, especially in light of the recent outbreak of severe weather. Rep. Fattah said that he was “very interested in how to avoid these cuts” and that they were unwise in both “substance and symbolism” because they were sending a message that the federal government doesn’t care about the impact of severe weather. “I am still concerned about what it suggests – the idea that at this time we would be removing local people.” At a loss for words, Dr. Lubchenco responded, “I hear what you are saying.”
Rep. Jse Serrano (D-NY) also urged Dr. Lubchenco to reconsider her opposition to the creation of a Caribbean Tsunami Warning Center in Puerto Rico, explaining that the residents of these U.S territories do not feel safe relying on tsunami warnings issued from Alaska and Hawaii. Lubchenco said a Caribbean Center was not necessary because geographic proximity is not necessary to issue a prompt or reliable warning. Rep. Serrano then asked "if that was the case, why did NOAA put warning centers in Hawaii and Alaska in the first place?" Jane's answer? You guessed it. "I don't know."
As the hearing was closing, Chairman Wolf said that he had recently traveled to Africa and asked Dr. Lubchenco whether the NWS was providing any famine forecasts to Africa to aid in the deprivation he had seen there. Exhibiting further ignorance of the NWS’s operations (after three years on the job) she said that the NWS does not. In fact, the NWS’s Climate Prediction Center has an entire unit dedicated to doing just that- the Famine Early Warning System. See:
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/fews/ and http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov
If you are a NWSEO Member, come join this discussion and more in our NWSEO Facebook Community. http://www.facebook.com/groups/nwseo/
Pictured: Rep. Chaka Fattah with the NWSEO National Council on March 10, 2012
-NWSEO-
Philadelphia Inquirer, Anthony Woods reports:
Weather Service worries about White House's proposed cuts to it's budget
-NWSEO-
Protect the ITO Position Press Kit
Spanish - Fact Sheet - Speaking points
White Paper - Detailed report on the ITO position
Spanish version - White Paper Detailed report on the ITO position
You can also write to Dr. Jane Lubchenco at:
HCHB Building Suite 6622 Room 5810
Washington DC
***
Contact your Senator and Congressional Representative
You can call or email your State Senator using the locator below.
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
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https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
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Member News Archives
The Four Winds 2012 Archives
April 5, 2012
March 20, 2012
March 20Union Grievance; AWIPS 2 Unfair Labor Practice and Relocation Unfair Labor Practice
March 15, 2012
NOAA: We issued tornado warnings for Early March Outbreak, not NWS
March 8, 2012
March 1, 2012
NWSEO Response to NWS Proposal to Not Fill ITO Vacancies
February 28, 2012
February 28, 2012 printable copy
Form A must be submitted between January 1, 2012 and February 29, 2012 to receive benefits for 2012.
Form B must be submitted between January 1, 2012 and February 29, 2012 for reimbursement for the year 2011.
February 17, 2012
NWSEO Works to Save ITO Positions - Here’s How You Can Help
February 3, 2012
February 3, 2012 Travel Printable copy
NWSEO Case Prompts FLRA Charges OPM with Violation of Labor Law
In Capping Federal Employee Awards
February 3, 2012 FLRA printable copy
January 10, 2012
Gainsharing Travel Savings –
Save Money on Travel and Earn a Little Extra Cash for Yourself
January 10, 2012 - printable copy
January 6, 2012
January 6, 2012 - printable copy
January 5, 2012
Dr. Lubchenco Responds to NWSEO Letter –
Promises Policy on Weather Warning Apps
January 5, 2012 - printable copy
The Four Winds 2011 Archives
2011 Four Winds Newsletters and Archives
The Four Winds 2010 News Archives
2010 Four Winds Newsletters Archives
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