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“If there is one thing the
Obama Administration
could do over the next
four years to really make
a difference, it would be
to make environmental
information a priority.”
WE NEED TO
FIND A BETTER
WAY TO TIE THIS
INFORMATION
TO ECONOMIC
SECURITY.
availability How will we ever move
towards integrated information that
produces environmental intelligence
S&S Is there a lack of leadership or is
the science community just not being
paid attention to
COLLETON I do believe there is a lack
of leadership. You have these capabilities
spread through a number of
federal agencies. The U.S. Geological
Survey is responsible for the Landsat
program; NASA is doing research
satellites; NOAA is responsible for
the operational weather satellites;
the National Science Foundation
is funding research, and then you
have cubesats, uavs, aircraft, ocean
buoys, balloons, stream gauges, and
on and on… When you consider our
Earth observation capabilities and the
number of agencies involved, there’s
really no one responsible at a high level
to look at all these capabilities and to
make sure that the United States has
a vision and a road map for achieving
it. What is different is that we need to
find a better way to tie this information
to economic security.
If there is one thing the Obama
Administration could do over the next
four years to really make a difference,
it would be to make environmental
information a priority – find ways to
infuse greater innovation and efficiency,
to engage the private sector both as
users and providers of information, and
to establish a long-term plan.
I think we desperately need to focus
on taking that government investment
and leveraging it to grow the U.S.
economy. That happens two ways:
first, all this environmental intelligence
that is produced helps us to better
manage risk. The second way is in
building up the capacity and private
enterprise around the government
investment. You see that with weather.
At The Weather Channel, for example,
they don’t have their own satellite; they
use satellite data from NOAA.
S&S What are some of the strong
economic impacts
COLLETON If you just look at it from
a natural disaster standpoint the
numbers are staggering. Equicat
estimates that Hurricane Sandy is
resulting in $20 billion in insured
losses, and $50 billion in economic
losses. Those numbers are likely to rise
though, because the power is not back
on, some stores are still not open, and
there are still transportation issues and
structural issues around New York.
Crop losses from the drought are
estimated at $25 billion. The drought
also has caused low water levels on
the Mississippi, which have led to
commerce and transportation impacts.
The New York Times recently reported
that $7 billion in products could be
stalled in the December-January timeframe
if water levels don’t increase.
S&S It’s something that was forecast,
in terms of long-term warnings, that
this level of damage might be possible
with a major storm, just like Hurricane
Katrina was one of the top ten possible
disasters and then it occurred. When is
there some liability for not reacting to
these long-term forecasts and building
in some resilience and adaptability
COLLETON I think that’s a really important
question. A couple of weeks ago I
was invited to speak on a satellite colloquium
at a law firm. They were asking
about some of the legal and regulatory
issues coming up. The complexion of
our forecasting sources is changing,
and with climate change becoming ever
more present, there are people who may
ask, “why didn’t we better prepare”
At some point I think there is going to
be some liability somewhere. I’m not
sure it will happen any time soon, but I
suspect it will happen.
Already there have been shareholders
of companies that have been
wondering, if the company is damaging
the environment (specifically thinking
about climate), what’s their liability
as board members and shareholders
Turning it around, if you have more
companies in the weather enterprise
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