Posted on: Saturday, March 12, 2005
Tsunami alert's upgrades approved
By Dennis Camire
Advertiser Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — Bills to expand and upgrade the nation's tsunami warning system and help clean debris from U.S. shores are on their way to the full Senate after receiving committee approval this week.
The tsunami bill, sponsored by Sen. Dan Inouye, D-Hawai'i, and Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, would provide $35 million a year for the next six years to upgrade and modernize the warning system — including the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in 'Ewa Beach — and expand it to the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico.
The bill, approved by voice vote in the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, would create a better system for detecting tsunamis like the recent Indian Ocean disaster.
"Both Hawai'i and Alaska have seen significant economic damage from tsunami within the last century, so Senator Stevens and I are keenly aware of how important it is that we have first-rate detection and warning capabilities," said Inouye, the committee's top Democrat.
Under the bill, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would also help other nations create an international tsunami warning system. No date has been set yet for the full Senate to consider the bill. The House is working on its version of the legislation.
The bill also would help prepare coastal communities for hazards such as tsunami, hurricanes, rises in sea level or coastal flooding. NOAA would pay for three regional pilot projects to coordinate federal, state and local preparedness and response programs to deal with the disasters.
"Critical for any warning system is the appropriate outreach and education programs to inform potentially tsunami-impacted communities and for these coastal areas to plan accordingly," said Stevens, chairman of the commerce committee. "Our legislation does that."
The bill includes an additional $5 million annually for the next six years to pay for the coastal preparedness work.
Inouye said three of the six warning buoys that are part of the existing system aren't working. Meanwhile, the population in coastal counties is expected to increase by 7 million people by 2008.
"With more Americans flocking to our shores, we need to help managers plan and prepare for their protection," Inouye said.
The ocean debris bill, also sponsored by Inouye, would funnel $15 million a year for the next five years through NOAA and the Department of Homeland Security to the Coast Guard so it could step up its enforcement of laws designed to prevent ship-based pollution.
The debris — garbage, discarded fishing gear, cargo washed overboard, abandoned equipment and more — is accumulating by the ton off the shores and is a growing threat to human health, marine life and coastal habitats.
Many of the Pacific currents carrying debris circle Hawai'i and deposit thousands of tons on its shores every year. Since 1996, a total of 484 tons of debris has been removed from coral reefs in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands alone.
"I hate to have Hawai'i known as the dumping ground, but we're becoming that because of the debris," Inouye said. "We can begin to reverse this problem, but it will take the comprehensive, national commitment that our legislation establishes."
The bill would improve research on sources of marine trash, its potential threats and ways to prevent it. It also would urge agencies to work with foreign governments to find ways to reduce the debris.
