Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 2004 - Continued

DEPARTMENTS OF VETERANS AFFAIRS AND HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND INDEPENDENT AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2004-CONTINUED

NSF ASTRONOMICAL RESEARCH

Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I rise to speak on the issue of funding for astronomy within the National Science Foundation. I would like to engage in a colloquy with Senators BOND and MIKULSKI, the distinguished chairman and ranking member of the Subcommittee on VA, HUD and Independent Agencies.

Mr. BOND. I would be happy to engage in such a discussion with the Senator from Hawaii, a member of the Committee and the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Defense.

Mr. INOUYE. The committee's bill recognizes that the budget request provided inadequate funding for NSF's astronomical facilities. In response, the committee bill provided additional funding for radio astronomy facilities, but the funding level in other areas remains inadequate. For example, the National Optical Astronomy Observatory would be reduced below last year's level.

Ms. MIKULSKI. The Senator is correct. We were unable to provide additional funds for the NOAO due to our tight 302(b) allocation.

Mr. INOUYE. One specific high priority area for investment in optical astronomy that will be needed to develop the next generation of ground-based telescopes is in the area of adaptive optics. This will enable a major advance in astronomy that will have far-reaching effects in other areas, including national security. The National Academy of Sciences Decadal Survey in Astronomy has identified this as the enabling breakthrough that will be needed for the Giant Segmented Mirror Telescope, the top priority for optical astronomy.

For fiscal year 2004, about $5 million in additional funding for adaptive optics development is needed in order to develop the future generation of ground based telescopes, particularly for the GSMT. Would the chairman and ranking member be willing to join me in examining this possibility during conference on this bill?

Mr. BOND. We face a very tough conference with the House with our tight allocation and other competing funding priority areas such as veterans' health care, affordable housing, and other science and space programs. Nevertheless, I will look at this issue in conference.

Mr. MIKULSKI. I would be happy to support the Senator.

Mr. INOUYE. I would like to raise another issue. The Advanced Technology Solar Telescope was identified as the highest priority solar astronomy initiative for the coming decade. Presently, the National Solar Observatory is leading a national effort to identify a site for this future telescope and to make the overall project a success by addressing the long lead technologies. Progress on these is essential in order for the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope to achieve operations by 2007-2008 when NASA's complimentary space mission, the Solar Dynamics Observer, is launched. The combination of these two observatories will provide an unprecedented synergy between space- and ground-based solar observations that we believe will be of great scientific benefit. Unfortunately, the budget request does not provide the necessary funding to accommodate these needs.

One specific area that has emerged as critical is to begin the preparatory work on the mirror for this telescope and to develop fully the fabrication and polishing techniques that will be necessary. Would the chairman and ranking member join me in helping to identify $2 million in additional funding during conference to address this issue?

Mr. BOND. Speaking for Senator MIKULSKI and myself, we would be happy to look at this issue in conference.

Mr. INOUYE. I thank both Senators for their leadership in helping the U.S. remain scientifically and technologically competitive by providing critical investments in research.

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I am very interested in the need to provide funding through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the National Research Council to study whether the use of coal combustion wastes, otherwise known as coal fly ash, poses health and/or safety threats to the public or to the environment when used for reclamation purposes in both active and abandoned coal mines.

For more than twenty years, the EPA has been grappling with the issue of whether and how the use of these power plant combustion wastes should be regulated and the manner in which they should be regulated, if at all, under the Resources Conservation and Recovery Act or the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. With this amendment, the National Research Council will be able to provide much-needed research assistance to the EPA as the agency continues to consider the development of national regulations in this area.

This study serves an important purpose and will help answer important questions about the impact of disposing coal combustion wastes in coal mines. Further, this study would offer timely information to EPA policy makers as these experts continue to assess the need for regulations governing this practice.

In summary, there is a great need for this study. It could be funded within existing resources and under existing authorizations. I hope that my colleagues will be able to consider this important request during the VA/HUD conference. I thank them for their consideration of this issue.

Mr. BOND. I thank the Senator from West Virginia for his remarks, and I will be working to ensure that this important study will be included in the conference report.

Ms. MIKULSKI. I also thank the senior Senator from West Virginia, and I, too, will support his request for such a study during the conference negotiations. This is an important matter for the State of West Virginia and other coal-producing States.