Johnson Attends EROS Event in Sioux Falls
U.S. Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) today commended the staff of the EROS Data Center and celebrated the release of a new book entitled, Atlas of Our Changing Environment. The book includes satellite images of landscapes around the globe, many of which were processed at EROS Center.
"The work done at EROS data center is cutting edge. This Atlas is just one example of what they can accomplish. That is why it is so important to ensure that EROS is able to continue their mission and why I have worked to keep these high skill jobs here at home," Johnson said.
In January of 2005, Johnson wrote President Bush asking him to address budget shortfalls at EROS and thus, preserve the technical capabilities at the center. The President heeded Johnson's request and included $19.45 million in his budget for EROS this year. Johnson is committed to using his seat on the Appropriations Committee to see this funding through.
In each of the last three years, Johnson has intervened to prevent potential job cuts resulting from a malfunction of the Landsat 7 satellite.
Malfunctions with the Landsat 7 satellite degraded the quality of images processed and distributed by EROS. The sale of this data from Landsat 7 generates revenue to fund operations at EROS, but sales have decreased since the malfunction, which prompted the request for additional funding. Without additional resources, the budget shortfall would result in job losses and other detrimental cutbacks at EROS.
http://johnson.senate.gov/~johnson/releases/200507/2005708B32.html