[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
WEATHERING THE STORM:
REAUTHORIZING THE NATIONAL
WINDSTORM IMPACT REDUCTION PROGRAM
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE,
AND TECHNOLOGY
OF THE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
NOVEMBER 10, 2021
__________
Serial No. 117-37
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via the World Wide Web: http://science.house.gov
___________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
46-032PDF WASHINGTON : 2023
COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY
HON. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas, Chairwoman
ZOE LOFGREN, California FRANK LUCAS, Oklahoma,
SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon Ranking Member
AMI BERA, California MO BROOKS, Alabama
HALEY STEVENS, Michigan, BILL POSEY, Florida
Vice Chair RANDY WEBER, Texas
MIKIE SHERRILL, New Jersey BRIAN BABIN, Texas
JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York ANTHONY GONZALEZ, Ohio
MELANIE A. STANSBURY, New Mexico MICHAEL WALTZ, Florida
BRAD SHERMAN, California JAMES R. BAIRD, Indiana
ED PERLMUTTER, Colorado DANIEL WEBSTER, Florida
JERRY McNERNEY, California MIKE GARCIA, California
PAUL TONKO, New York STEPHANIE I. BICE, Oklahoma
BILL FOSTER, Illinois YOUNG KIM, California
DONALD NORCROSS, New Jersey RANDY FEENSTRA, Iowa
DON BEYER, Virginia JAKE LaTURNER, Kansas
CHARLIE CRIST, Florida CARLOS A. GIMENEZ, Florida
SEAN CASTEN, Illinois JAY OBERNOLTE, California
CONOR LAMB, Pennsylvania PETER MEIJER, Michigan
DEBORAH ROSS, North Carolina JAKE ELLZEY, TEXAS
GWEN MOORE, Wisconsin VACANCY
DAN KILDEE, Michigan
SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania
LIZZIE FLETCHER, Texas
------
Subcommittee on Research and Technology
HON. HALEY STEVENS, Michigan, Chairwoman
MELANIE A. STANSBURY, New Mexico MICHAEL WALTZ, Florida,
PAUL TONKO, New York Ranking Member
GWEN MOORE, Wisconsin ANTHONY GONZALEZ, Ohio
SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania JAMES R. BAIRD, Indiana
BILL FOSTER, Illinois JAKE LaTURNER, Kansas
CONOR LAMB, Pennsylvania PETER MEIJER, Michigan
DEBORAH ROSS, North Carolina VACANCY
C O N T E N T S
November 10, 2021
Page
Hearing Charter.................................................. 2
Opening Statements
Statement by Representative Haley Stevens, Chairwoman,
Subcommittee on Research and Technology, Committee on Science,
Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives........... 9
Written Statement............................................ 10
Statement by Representative Michael Waltz, Ranking Member,
Subcommittee on Research and Technology, Committee on Science,
Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives........... 11
Written Statement............................................ 12
Written statement by Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson,
Chairwoman, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S.
House of Representatives....................................... 13
Written statement by Representative Frank Lucas, Ranking Member,
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of
Representatives................................................ 14
Witnesses:
Dr. Scott Weaver, Director, National Windstorm Impact Reduction
Program, National Institute of Standards and Technology
Oral Statement............................................... 15
Written Statement............................................ 17
Dr. Linda Blevins, Deputy Assistant Director, Directorate for
Engineering, National Science Foundation
Oral Statement............................................... 27
Written Statement............................................ 29
Mr. Michael Grimm, Assistant Administrator for Risk Management,
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Oral Statement............................................... 39
Written Statement............................................ 41
Discussion....................................................... 46
Appendix I: Answers to Post-Hearing Questions
Dr. Scott Weaver, Director, National Windstorm Impact Reduction
Program, National Institute of Standards and Technology........ 62
Dr. Linda Blevins, Deputy Assistant Director, Directorate for
Engineering, National Science Foundation....................... 64
Mr. Michael Grimm, Assistant Administrator for Risk Management,
Federal Emergency Management Agency............................ 67
Appendix II: Additional Material for the Record
Letter submitted by Representative Haley Stevens, Chairwoman,
Subcommittee on Research and Technology, Committee on Science,
Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives
Nathaniel F. Wienecke, Senior Vice President, American
Property Casualty Insurance Association.................... 78
Statement submitted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration................................................. 81
WEATHERING THE STORM:
REAUTHORIZING THE NATIONAL
WINDSTORM IMPACT REDUCTION PROGRAM
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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2021
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Research and Technology,
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology,
Washington, D.C.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 o'clock
a.m., via Zoom, Hon. Haley Stevens [Chairwoman of the
Subcommittee] presiding.
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairwoman Stevens. This hearing will come to order.
Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare recess at
any time. Today the Committee is meeting virtually. Just a
couple of reminders to Members about the conduct of this
hearing. First, Members should keep their video feed on as long
as they are present in the hearing. Members are responsible for
their own microphones. Please also keep your microphones muted,
unless you are speaking. And finally, if Members have documents
they wish to submit for the record, please e-mail them to the
Committee Clerk, whose e-mail address was circulated prior to
the hearing.
So good morning. Thank you to our distinguished panel of
witnesses for joining our virtual hearing on examining the
National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program, NWIRP. We've got
witnesses from NIST (National Institute of Standards and
Technology), FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), and
NSF (National Science Foundation), and we are so looking
forward to hearing their testimony today. I am also speaking to
all of you, and conducting this hearing virtually, from City
Hall in the city of Farmington, Michigan to bring attention to
the incessant windstorms that have become more severe and more
frequent in my community.
As you can see, the city of Farmington was very badly
damaged by wind storms that hit in July. The picture below is
also windstorms that tore through another one of our
communities in White Lake this summer. This was almost a weekly
occurrence. I really want to thank our mayor, Sara Bowman, and
our City Manager, David Murphy, here in Farmington, along with
the entire city council, that really banded together.
Unfortunately, the citizens in Farmington and across the area
have just seen ample evidence and have experienced the
destructive power of windstorms. We had a supercell storm that
hit here in July. The residents weren't even able to hear the
warning. There was no tornado warning or siren that sounded to
even go into their basements. Not only were trees knocked over,
but trees were damaged, and they're shaky, and they continue to
pose a risk to residents in their neighborhoods.
So, even despite our advancements, severe windstorms
remain the most destructive and costly natural hazards. We had
a million dollars of damage between the city of Farmington and
Farmington Hills, and in Southeast Michigan this summer we just
continued to experience a nonstop deluge of extreme wind and
windstorms. We had nine hard-hitting, severe storms in 9 weeks.
I'm going to say that again, we had nine hard-hitting, severe
storms in 9 weeks. Tornadoes, hail, derechos, flash floods, and
supercell storms, which I had mentioned, created a cycle of
destruction in our communities. And if we can show the map? I
would just like to show how badly hit we were in Southeastern
Michigan.
I share the Storm Report from August 11 that tracked wind
gusts up to 70 miles per hour and prompted the issuance of
Detroit National Weather Service's first destructive severe
thunderstorm warning. The storm marked the first time in
Detroit that the weather service used its destructive storm
warning, a new label for the highest category of damage threat.
These damaging waves of storms have caused countless power
outages and flooded homes, countless. We're talking power
outages ranging from hours to days, to just ensuing over a
matter of weeks. People are stressed. They're exhausted from
the turmoil.
And so, with that--in the 2 years since the last Science
Committee hearing on NWIRP, my home State of Michigan has
experienced six Severe Storm billion-dollar Disaster Events. No
State in our Nation is untouched by the damaging physical and
emotional impacts of windstorms and associated flooding.
Advances in recent decades have led to significant improvements
in the National Weather Service's ability to forecast
hurricanes, tornadoes, and other storms. However, accurate
forecasts alone are not enough to protect lives and property
against windstorms and their impacts. I am deeply grateful that
we are having this hearing today, and a chance to hear from our
expert witnesses on the additional needs in research,
workforce, and infrastructure for improved windstorm and
windstorm impact resilience at NWIRP.
NWIRP was established in 2004 with three main goals,
improving the understanding of windstorms, improving windstorm
impact assessment, and reducing windstorm impacts. Atmospheric
and engineering research conducted by the program agencies has
advanced our understanding of the processes underlying
windstorms and their impacts on structures. Post-disaster
investigations conducted by program agencies, in particular at
NIST, further inform our understanding of the behavior of
structures in windstorms. This research has already led to
(inaudible) information to the general public on windstorm
preparedness and actions that individuals can take to protect
themselves and their homes during a severe windstorm. We
certainly need to have all the protections in place.
However, it is policymakers and community leaders who
truly hold the key to future windstorm resilience through their
decisionmaking regarding mitigation and preparedness. The
challenges in preparing for and mitigating against severe
windstorms are just far too broad for any one agency to handle
on their own. NWIRP's model for interagency collaboration
spanning fundamental research to operations has enabled the
program to make important advances in saving lives and reducing
the economic impact of windstorms. With climate change
(inaudible) us, many new challenges lie ahead.
Authorization for NWIRP expired in 2017, long before I got
to Congress, but the program has committed to its excellent
work, and I applaud the agencies for these efforts. As the
Science Committee considers the reauthorization of NWIRP, we
engage in today's hearing from the agencies on the changes to
the program that can continue to improve our Nation's
resilience to severe windstorms.
[The prepared statement of Chairwoman Stevens follows:]
Good Morning. Thank you to our distinguished panel of
witnesses for joining our virtual hearing on examining the
National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program, or NWIRP.
I am speaking to you today from City Hall in Farmington,
Michigan, to bring attention to the windstorms that have become
more severe and more frequent in my community.
Unfortunately, citizens of Farmington and across the area
have seen ample evidence of the destructive power of windstorms
and their associated flooding. Despite our advancements, severe
windstorms remain among the most destructive and costly natural
hazards.
This Summer, Southeast Michigan experienced a nonstop
deluge of extreme winds and storms--we had nine hard-hitting,
severe storms in nine weeks. Tornadoes, hail, derechos, flash
floods, and Supercell storms created a cycle of destruction in
our communities.
I share this Storm Report from August 11 that tracked wind
gusts up to 75 mph and prompted the issuance of Detroit
National Weather Service's first ``Destructive'' Severe
Thunderstorm Warning. The storm marked the first time in
Detroit the weather service used its ``destructive'' storm
warning, a new label for the highest category of damage threat.
These damaging waves of storms have caused countless power
outages and flooded homes. People here are stressed out and
exhausted from the turmoil.
In the two years since the last Science Committee hearing
on NWIRP, my home state of Michigan has experienced six Severe
Storm billion-dollar disaster events. No state in our nation is
untouched by the damaging physical and emotional impacts of
windstorms and associated flooding.
Advances in recent decades have led to significant
improvements in the National Weather Service's ability to
forecast hurricanes, tornadoes, and other storms. However,
accurate forecasts alone aren't enough to protect lives and
property against windstorms and their impacts. I look forward
to hearing testimony from our expert witnesses on the
additional needs in research, workforce, and infrastructure for
improved windstorm and windstorm impact resilience at NWIRP.
NWIRP was established in 2004 with three main goals--
improving the understanding of windstorms, improving windstorm
impact assessment, and reducing windstorm impacts. Atmospheric
and engineering research conducted by the Program agencies has
advanced our understanding of the processes underlying
windstorms and their impacts on structures. Post-disaster
investigations conducted by Program agencies, in particular
NIST, further inform our understanding of the behavior of
structures in windstorms. This research has already led to
significantly improved model building codes.
Additionally, NWIRP agencies disseminate information to the
general public on windstorm preparedness and actions that
individuals can take to protect themselves and their homes
during a severe windstorm. However, it is policy makers and
community leaders who truly hold the key to future windstorm
resilience through their decision-making regarding mitigation
and preparedness.
The challenges in preparing for and mitigating against
severe windstorms are far too broad for any one agency to
handle on its own. NWIRP's model for interagency collaboration
spanning fundamental research to operations has enabled the
Program to make important advances in saving lives and reducing
the economic impact of windstorms. With climate change upon us,
many new challenges lie ahead.
Authorization for NWIRP expired in 2017, but the Program
has continued its excellent work, and I applaud the agencies
for this work. As the Science Committee considers the
reauthorization of NWIRP, I look forward to hearing from the
Agencies on changes to the Program that can continue to improve
our nation's resilience to severe windstorms.
Thank you.
Chairwoman Stevens. And with that, I'm over time. I'm the
Chair. I'm going to recognize Mr. Waltz, our Ranking Member
from the nice State of Florida for an opening statement. Thank
you.
Mr. Waltz. Thank you, Chairwoman Stevens. Good morning.
Thank you for holding this hearing. Thank you to our panel for
your time, to share your expertise on this topic. You know, as
the Chairwoman said, it's important across the country. It's
particular--particularly important in her State and my home
State of Florida. Looking forward to the discussion today, and
I'm pleased to see the Committee's continued interest in
improving our understanding of natural hazards as we continue
to--our review of the NWIRP today. All 50 States are impacted.
Windstorms, tornadoes, tropical storms, certainly hurricanes in
my State, and flash thunderstorms. And these storms are--and
their associated flooding issues are some of the largest
natural--or largest loss-producing natural hazards in the U.S.
right now.
We in Florida are very familiar with extreme weather
events. In the last 5 years my home State has been severely
impacted by intense hurricane seasons. Hurricane Irma in '17,
Hurricane Dorian in '19, both made landfall in my district,
caused over a billion dollars in----
[The prepared statement of Mr. Waltz follows:]
Good morning and thank you Chairwoman Stevens for holding
this hearing. And thank you to our expert panel for taking the
time to share your expertise on this important topic, given its
critical importance across the country and particularly in my
home state of Florida. I look forward to today's discussion.
I am pleased to see the Committee's continued interest in
improving our understanding of natural hazards as we continue
our review of the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program,
also known as NWIRP today. All 50 states are impacted by
windstorm hazards such as tornadoes, tropical storms,
hurricanes, and thunderstorms, and these storms and their
associated flooding are the largest loss-producing natural
hazards in the United States.
We Floridians are very familiar with extreme weather
events. Over the last five years, my home state has been
severely impacted by intense hurricane seasons. Hurricane Irma
in 2017 and Hurricane Dorian in 2019 made landfall in my
district and caused over $100 billion in estimated damages.
After Hurricane Andrew hit Florida in 1992 and destroyed over
125,000 homes, state and local officials acted to establish
stronger building codes to make Florida's buildings more
resilient to hurricane-force winds. I am proud to see that
Florida stepped up to keep Floridians safer from extreme
weather.
We have already seen record-breaking costs from severe
hurricanes and windstorms, and the Congressional Budget Office
projects annual losses from hurricanes will increase from .16
percent of GDP to .22 percent of GDP by 2075.
NWIRP was established by Congress in 2004 to help reduce
the loss of life and property from severe windstorms and its
work has never been more important. NWIRP provides a
coordinated federal response by working with different levels
of government, academia, and the private sector to conduct
research and development. These activities help us to gain
greater insights into windstorms and their impacts. Even more
importantly, they help us develop and implement voluntary,
cost-effective mitigation measures like better engineering
techniques, communications tools, and risk assessments.
In the nearly two decades since NWIRP was created, federal
science agencies have made great strides. The National
Institute of Standards and Technology leads research to improve
building codes and standards. The National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration continues to improve forecasting
techniques for extreme weather.
The National Science Foundation supports a broad range of
basic research in atmospheric sciences and engineering,
including through the Natural Hazards Engineering Research
Infrastructure program. The NSF also supports the Wall of Wind
at Florida International University, which allows for
researchers to test to failure full-sized structures such as
manufactured housing and small commercial structures. Such
research will lay the groundwork for developing risk-based and
performance based design criteria, leading to more sustainable
costal communities.
While progress has been made to improve our understanding
of windstorms, knowledge gaps still remain. It is critical that
we continue to support this life-saving research and
development to help better prepare for these severe weather
events.
I would like to thank our witnesses again for their
participation today. Thank you, Madam Chair. I yield back.
Chairwoman Stevens. Mr. Waltz might have frozen. Let's
just give him a minute here.
Staff. Yes, ma'am, it does appear that his connection has
frozen. We'll try to contact his office and see if we can clear
that up.
Chairwoman Stevens. OK. OK, great. And then--so why don't
we do this? I'll turn to the introduction of our witnesses, buy
us some time, talk about these brilliant people who are before
us, and then if Mr. Waltz is able to get back on, we'll allow
him to reclaim his, you know, 3 minutes, because he does have 3
minutes left.
So our first--let's see. OK. He's disappeared, OK. Our
first witness is Dr. Scott Weaver. Dr. Weaver is the National
Windstorm Impact Reduction Program Director at the National
Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST. Prior to joining
NIST in 2018, Dr. Weaver served as the Senior Climate Scientist
for the Environmental Defense Fund, EDF, and spent several
years as a research meteorologist in the Climate Prediction
Center at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
NOAA. Also holds an appointment as an adjunct associate
professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science
at the University of Maryland.
Our next witness is Dr. Linda Blevins. Dr. Blevins is the
Deputy Assistant Director of the Engineering Directorate at the
National Science Foundation, NSF. In this role she provides
leadership and direction to the Directorate, which supports
research and education that advance sustainability,
manufacturing, health, infrastructure, and other national
priorities. Prior to joining NSF in 2017, Dr. Blevins served as
a Senior Technical Advisor in the Office of the Deputy Director
for Science Programs in the Department of Energy's Office of
Science.
Our final witness is Mr. Michael Grimm. Mr. Grimm is the
Assistant Administrator for Risk Management at the Federal
Emergency Management Agency, FEMA. Under his direction, the
Risk Management Directorate delivers quality risk data modeling
and programs that increase the public's awareness of risk
across the range of natural hazards. He also directs the
National Hazard Mitigation [inaudible] Stafford Act and FEMA's
actuarial and catastrophic modeling responsibilities. Mr. Grimm
has also previously served as the Assistant Administrator for
FEMA's Mitigation Directorate, and directed FEMA'S Individual
Assistance Division.
I'm going to pause for a minute. Has Mr. Waltz been able
to rejoin us? I'm not seeing him. I know we have the Full
Committee Ranking Member on with us here today, Mr. Frank
Lucas, who was not going to be delivering an opening statement,
but obviously fairness and bipartisan exchange are very
important to this Committee. All right. So it doesn't look like
we have Mr. Waltz back. So what we'd like to do right now is
move into--and our Full Committee Chair, Eddie Bernice Johnson,
is at the COP26 meeting in Glasgow, so she's not with us
either. Certainly an important hearing, though, for today.
[The prepared statement of Chairwoman Johnson follows:]
Thank you, Chairwoman Stevens and Ranking Member Waltz, for
holding this important hearing today. And thank you to our
witnesses for joining us.
Many Americans have suffered personal losses from severe
storms and flooding. The frequency, severity, and cost of
disasters will only continue to increase with climate change.
Storms do not know the difference between rich and poor, Black
and white. Nevertheless, because of stark economic and racial
disparities in where people live and the resilience of their
homes and communities, the brunt of these storms is too often
felt by poor minority communities. A single storm can push
families over the edge to financial catastrophe.
Accurate and timely forecasts are important for knowing
when and whether to evacuate communities and prepare for storm
impacts. Forecasting hurricanes, tornadoes, and other windstorm
events has improved significantly in the last 30 years, thanks
to the work of NOAA and the National Weather Service. But
accurate weather forecasts aren't enough to reduce windstorm
impacts and save lives.
In Texas, we're no strangers to impacts from powerful
tornadoes and hurricanes. Tornadoes cause more deaths per year
than earthquakes and hurricanes combined. Aside from tornado
shelters however, buildings have historically not been designed
to withstand tornadoes. At a recent Committee hearing, we heard
about the devastating 2011 tornado outbreak in the South. The
Joplin tornado prompted the National Institute of Standards and
Technology to investigate the damages to buildings. NIST
collaborated with private sector partners to develop a new
building standard that takes account of tornado threats for the
first time. While more progress has been made in designing
buildings resilient to hurricane winds, they remain vulnerable
to coastal storm surge and flooding related to hurricanes.
The National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program (NWIRP)
directs not just individual agency investments and activities,
it requires active coordination and collaboration among the
Program agencies. NWIRP ensures that the research on windstorms
and windstorm impacts is translated into more resilient
buildings and communities, including through collaboration with
the private sector to update model building codes and modernize
approaches to building design. Under NWIRP and otherwise, the
Federal government can help provide tools, resources, and
incentives to improve windstorm preparedness and mitigation.
However, it is up to local and state governments to adopt these
tools to protect their most vulnerable communities from natural
disasters.
While the outcomes of NWIRP have been significant, the
program receives little attention and funding. Nevertheless,
the agencies have continued in their efforts, and they need our
support. I look forward to working with my colleagues to
reauthorize and update NWIRP to build a more resilient future
and help protect the most vulnerable among us.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Lucas follows:]
Good Morning Chairwoman Stevens and thank you for holding
this hearing on the National Windstorm Impact Reduction
Program.
We in Oklahoma, like Florida, are very familiar with the
damage windstorms can cause. Efforts to reduce the loss of life
and property from these disasters is of extreme importance to
my family, friends, and neighbors.
Each year, lives are lost and billions are spent recovering
from the destruction caused by tornadoes, hurricanes and other
windstorms. And the costs associated with windstorms are
increasing. Oklahoma is part of ``tornado alley'' And so far in
2021, we have experienced 25 tornadoes. Thankfully, none have
resulted in serious damage or loss of life. But over the past
10 years, tornados have caused an average financial loss of
over $10 billion per year across the Country.
NWIRP helps provide coordination between federal government
agencies, universities, industry, and local and state
governments. This cooperation is needed to meet the great
challenge of responding to windstorms.
One example of such research is the TORUS project that the
National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are supporting and the
University of Oklahoma is part of. This project involves more
than 50 researchers and students using different tools to,
including unmanned aircraft systems, mobile radars and NOAA's
``Hurricane Hunter'' aircraft to collect data on supercell
thunderstorms across the Great Plains during 2019 and 2022. The
team was unable to go into the field during 2020 and 2021 due
to the COVID pandemic.
During the 2019 field season, after 32 days on the road and
traveling more than 9,000 miles, researchers encountered 19
supercell storms, with eight of those storms producing
tornadoes. Researchers expect results from the TORUS project to
be groundbreaking. The insights gained will improve our
understanding of why some supercells create tornadoes and
others do not, leading to improved forecasting.
This research is important, but it is also key that we find
practical and effective applications for this research, so that
it reaches those who need it most--states and local
communities.
NWIRP is directed to conduct research and development to
help improve building codes, voluntary standards and
construction practices to improve the resilience of structures
to windstorms. These investments in R&D activities support the
creation of improved windstorm impact reduction measures, such
as increased warning time and the development of safe room
building guidance.
While it has seen some success, I look forward to hearing
from our witnesses on how we can better improve the transfer of
this research to the building code communities. In addition, I
look forward to hearing what steps N-WIRP is taking to improve
public outreach and information dissemination. It is important
we continue to support the federal research done through NWIRP
to improve our understanding of windstorms, their impacts, and
to develop enhanced mitigation measures.
I would like to thank our witnesses for coming today to
share their expertise on the challenges, and hopefully
successes, of reducing windstorm impacts. Thank you and I yield
back the balance of my time.
Chairwoman Stevens. So what we'd like to do is move into
witness testimony. These are really nice testimonies, they've
been written up. We're going to get the 5 minutes--our
witnesses are going to get 5 minutes for spoken testimony. Your
written testimony is going to be included in the record for the
hearing. When you have completed your spoken testimony, we're
going to begin with questions, and each Member will have 5
minutes to question the panel. When we reclaim Mr. Waltz, we're
going to add his 3 minutes to his question time.
So, with that, we're going to start with Dr. Weaver for 5
minutes of questioning. I see you on the screen, Dr. Weaver.
You're going to do 5 minutes of--excuse me, of testimony, all
right? Thank you.
TESTIMONY OF DR. SCOTT WEAVER, DIRECTOR,
NATIONAL WINDSTORM IMPACT REDUCTION PROGRAM,
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY
Dr. Weaver. All right. Thank you. Good morning, everyone.
Chairwoman Stevens, Ranking Member Waltz, and Members of the
Subcommittee, I am Dr. Scott Weaver, Director for the National
Windstorm Impact Reduction Program, or NWIRP, at the Department
of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology,
known as NIST. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before
you today. NWIRP is an inter-agency science and engineering-
based program focused on achieving major measurable reductions
in losses of life and property from windstorms through a
coordinated Federal effort involving FEMA, NIST, NOAA, and NSF.
Since NWIRP's inception in 2004, the program has made notable
progress toward efforts to reduce windstorm impacts. This
includes significant improvements in hurricane forecasts and
increased tornado warning times, advancements in the science of
wind mapping to form engineering-based design standards,
improved coordination practices and research support for post-
windstorm investigations, and implementation of research-based
recommendations into codes, standards, and practices. Despite
these achievements, the Nation continues to experience
increased loss of life and property due to these extreme
weather events.
Windstorms, and associated flooding, are the largest loss-
producing natural hazards in the U.S. Every State in the
country is exposed to windstorm hazards from one or more storm
types. Over the last 40 years windstorms have caused over $1
trillion in economic losses, and over 8,000 fatalities in the
U.S. The greatest of these losses are associated with tornadoes
and hurricanes.
Over the past 10 years tornadoes have caused an average
loss of approximately $10 billion per year. In 2011, six
different tornado outbreaks affected 16 States, and produced a
combined damage of $29 billion and 545 fatalities. In a 14-
month span from August 2017 through October 2018, five major
hurricanes made landfall in the U.S., not including Hurricane
Florence, which made landfall as a category one storm, but
caused catastrophic inland flooding impacts to the Carolinas
from extreme rainfall.
The 2020 hurricane season established a new record for
most named storms, 12 of which made landfall in the U.S. The
causes underlying these massive and rapidly increase windstorm
losses are many, varied, and complex. Some are related to long
term societal changes, such as the movement of population
toward coastal areas of the U.S. Others relate to changes in
storm activity as the result of global climate change, lack of
understanding and predictability of surface level storm
characteristics and their associated hazards, interactions of
these hazards on the built environment, how to mitigate them,
and how to effectively communicate with and educate the public
and other stakeholders.
Advances in recent decades in meteorology and Earth system
science have led to great improvements in forecasting and
warning systems for hurricanes, tornadoes, and other
windstorms, however, large knowledge gaps remain in aspects of
windstorm climatology and hazards near the surface. Without
additional actions to mitigate windstorm hazards, and thereby
reduce windstorm risks, losses due to windstorms will only
continue to increase.
I want to thank this Committee for its recognition of the
necessary role for the Federal Government, and other
organizations, in supporting windstorm impact reduction, and
the resulting creation of NWIRP to focus on reducing the loss
of life and property from windstorms. To address the challenges
discussed previously, in 2018 NWIRP released its strategic
plan, developed in concert with stakeholders across government,
academia, and the private sector. Three overarching long term
strategic goals have been identified, including the following.
Improve the understanding of windstorm processes and hazards,
improve the understanding of windstorm impacts on communities,
and improve the windstorm resilience of communities nationwide.
A signature NIST research activity that is emblematic of
these three strategic goals is the current investigation of the
effects of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. The NIST Hurricane
Maria study aims to better understand how the buildings and
infrastructure fail, and how we can prevent such failures in
the future. Specifically, the NIST team seeks to understand
Hurricane Maria's multi-hazard impacts and the conditions that
led to injuries and deaths, how critical buildings and designed
safe areas within them performed, including their dependence on
electricity, water, transportation, and other infrastructure,
how emergency communications systems performed and the public's
response to such communications, and the impacts to, and
recovery of, selected businesses, hospitals, and schools, as
well as the critical social functions they provide. After
completion of the Hurricane Maria study, NIST will pursue and
track implementation of its recommendations in an effort to
reduce windstorm impacts nationwide.
NWIRP continues to make strides in implementing the
strategy put forth in its strategic plan. However, as losses
continue to mount, there is much work to be done. We greatly
appreciate the efforts of this Committee, and other Members of
Congress, to support resilience programs that keep the Nation
safe. I'm pleased to answer any questions you may have. Thank
you.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Weaver follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairwoman Stevens. Excellent. Thank you, Dr. Weaver. And
I see our Ranking Member Waltz is back. Would you like to
finish your opening statement?
Mr. Waltz. Thank you, Chairwoman. I'll submit it for the
record. I just wanted to point out that in--you know, really a
seminal event for Florida was Hurricane Andrew in 1992, which
has been some time ago, but it looked like God had taken a
lawnmower across the State. 125,000 homes were flattened, and
since then I think our State and local officials have really
taken some important steps in improving building codes. And,
really, if you go to communities now, when they're hit by a
storm, you can literally tell which homes were built after '92
and which ones were built before '92 because of those important
steps. So I'll submit the rest of it for the record, and let
our witnesses continue.
Chairwoman Stevens. Excellent. Thank you so much.
Mr. Waltz. Sure.
Chairwoman Stevens. And with that, we'll hear from Dr.
Blevins next for 5 minutes of testimony.
TESTIMONY OF DR. LINDA BLEVINS,
DEPUTY ASSISTANT DIRECTOR,
DIRECTORATE FOR ENGINEERING,
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Dr. Blevins. Thank you. Good morning Chairwoman Stevens,
Ranking Member Waltz, Ranking Member Lucas, and Members of the
Subcommittee. My name is Linda Blevins, and I'm the Deputy
Assistant Director of the Engineering Directorate at the
National Science Foundation. It is an honor to appear before
you today, along with our Federal partners, to discuss the
important role NSF plays in the National Windstorm Impact
Reduction Program.
NSF supports research across all fields of science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and all levels
of STEM education. This uniquely positions NSF to facilitate
partnerships that bring diverse groups of researchers together
with communities, private industry, and others to identify
problems and put science, engineering, and technology to work
to develop solutions. NSF does this across the entire country,
tackling problems at the national, regional, and local levels,
and ensuring that Americans from every geographic and
demographic background participate in and benefit from NSF
investments.
For decades NSF has been fostering research and innovation
to improve resilience to natural hazards, including windstorms
like hurricanes, tornadoes, and nor'easters. NSF-funded
researchers examine the fundamentals of how windstorms form,
move, change, and interact with Earth, water, and climate
forces to improve prediction and risk assessment. They examine
the behavior of buildings, infrastructure, and the natural
environment in the face of wind forces to enable better designs
and mitigation options, and they examine community consequences
and human responses to support improved planning and policy,
emergency response, risk communication, and decision support.
Working alongside our partners at NIST, NOAA, and FEMA,
NSF harnesses this mindset for NWIRP. We do so through
operating state-of-the-art research infrastructure, offering
coordinated research programs, supporting the most promising
ideas from across the country, and by investing in the
development of a diverse workforce that is critical to the
future. For example, NSF's Natural Hazards Engineering Research
Infrastructure, or NHERI, is a national network of experimental
facilities that provides researchers access to world-class,
unique capabilities. This network includes NHERI's boundary-
layer wind tunnel at the University of Florida, the Wall of
Wind at Florida International University, the Wave Research
Laboratory at Oregon State, and a coordination office at
Purdue. Through those and other--through these and other NHERI
facilities, researchers study everything from hurricane force
winds to tsunamis.
NSF's Civic Innovation Challenge is a program where
communities and the research enterprise collaborate to address
community-identified priorities. Through this program, NSF
recently funded projects that will enable the development of
rural resilience hubs in Florida and new tools for recovery
from storm damage in Virginia's Hampton Roads area. It is vital
to support research as natural disasters unfold to record and
preserve information that would otherwise be lost and
impossible to replicate. NSF's Rapid Response Research Awards,
or RAPIDs, do just that. Through RAPID projects, NSF has funded
research in the immediate aftermath of several major
windstorms, including Hurricanes Florence and Michael in 2018,
the Easter Sunday 2020 tornadoes, and the U.S. Midwest 2020
derecho. NSF also funds seven standing networks called Extreme
Event Reconnaissance Networks that are ready to deploy when
needed.
Extreme weather research relies on basic understanding of
weather and climate patters and trends. NSF investments in
climate research span everything from the physical processes
that determine hurricane intensity to tornado genesis and
tornadic vortex structure. This research improves predictions,
and helps communities to mitigate and adapt. Looking forward,
the facilities, basic research, and researchers supported by
NSF will be key to achieving our shared goal of preventing
natural hazards, including windstorms, from becoming societal
disasters. Investments in new areas like artificial
intelligence (AI) will provide even better understanding.
NSF appreciates Congress's continued support for the
agency's mission, and its important contributions to critical
national priorities, like NWIRP. We look forward to continuing
to work with the Committee, and with our partner agencies.
Thank you again for the opportunity to testify, and I'm happy
to answer questions.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Blevins follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairwoman Stevens. Thank you, Dr. Blevins. With that, we
will hear from Mr. Grimm.
Mr. Grimm. Good morning, Chair----
Chairwoman Stevens. Mr. Grimm, are you ready for 5 minutes
of testimony? Yeah.
TESTIMONY OF MR. MICHAEL GRIMM,
ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR FOR RISK MANAGEMENT,
FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY
Mr. Grimm. I am. Thank you very much. Good morning, Chair
Stevens, Ranking Member Waltz, and Members of the Subcommittee.
My name is Michael Grimm, and I am the Assistant Administrator
for Risk Management for the Federal Insurance and Mitigation
Administration. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss FEMA's
supporting role within the National Windstorm Impact Reduction
Program. FEMA's mission is helping people before, during, and
after disasters. Mitigating the impact of windstorm damages
from events such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and derechos is an
important aspect of this responsibility.
Although the risk of extreme windstorm varies across the
country, no State, tribal nation, locality, or territory is
immune. As a result of climate change, natural disasters are
more frequent, more intense, and more destructive. In 2020 a
powerful derecho swept across the Midwest with hurricane force
winds, impacting communities throughout the region. Earlier
this year Hurricane Ida's wind speeds intensified from 85 to
150 miles per hour in less than 24 hours due to the abnormally
warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico. When Ida made landfall, it
retained much of its strength as it crossed over nine States in
4 days, leaving a path of damage from the Gulf Coast to New
England.
To address the nationwide risk posed by windstorm damages,
FEMA is actively working to support the goals of the National
Windstorm Impact Reduction Program in coordination with our
partners, NIST, the NSF, and NOAA. For example, to improve
windstorm safety protection measures, FEMA issued safe room
guidance publications, leading to the development of a storm
shelter design and construction standard that's used by design
professionals across the Nation. NIST and FEMA coordinated and
submitted dozens of successful change proposals to the
standard, thereby increasing safety and reliability for
occupants taking shelter from extreme winds.
FEMA also participates in the International Code Council's
building code development process to promote the inclusion of
wind-resistant provisions. Many of FEMA's proposals to update
the building codes are based on Mitigation Assessment Team
findings from observations in the field after a wind event, and
many of these field activities are conducted in coordination
with our partner agencies. These technical field teams study
the impact of disasters, and compile lessons learned, which can
be applied across the Nation to other disaster-prone regions.
These findings help architects, building officials, and
building owners to understand why wind damage has happened, and
to learn how to prevent those damages from reoccurring.
One of the most effective ways to safeguard our
communities against future natural disasters is to adopt
hazard-resistant building codes. These codes help protect
people both physically and financially by reducing damages to
buildings and minimizing disruptions to daily life. Hazard-
resistant building codes are a low cost, high impact solution
that can help break the cycles of natural disaster damage and
reconstruction. A 2019 study by the National Institute of
Building Sciences found that adopting the latest building codes
saved $11 for every dollar invested. However, about 2/3 of
communities across the country have not adopted the latest
building codes. As our Nation's risks grow, such investments
will become even more valuable.
In addition, FEMA has other programs and other activities
that address the risks posed by extreme wind hazards. For
example, FEMA provides funding for eligible projects through
our Hazard Mitigation Assistance grants. These grants provide
our partners with a reliable stream of funding for larger
mitigation projects through nationwide grant programs.
While FEMA stands ready to respond when disasters occur,
we recognize that the true success rests in mitigating the
worst impacts of disasters before they happen. At FEMA, a
cornerstone of our mitigation efforts is the Building
Resilience Infrastructure and Communities Program, also known
as BRIC. The BRIC Program provides a critical opportunity to
invest in a more resilient nation, reduce disaster suffering,
and lessen future disaster costs. Earlier this year President
Biden visited FEMA to announce that he was increasing the
funding available for the BRIC Program to $1 billion for the
fiscal year '21 application period. This investment will
protect lives and property in the face of future storms, and
being used to support projects which improve wind resilience,
such as the construction of community safe rooms and
retrofitting facilities.
Another important element of FEMA's mitigation effort is
the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, also known as HMGP. In
August President Biden approved more than $3.46 billion for the
HMGP Program for the COVID-19 disaster declarations, enabling
substantial levels of additional funding to invest in
mitigation projects. Mitigation is particularly important for
underserved communities that are most vulnerable to the impacts
of climate change. In administering our mitigation programs,
FEMA will keep equity considerations top of mind, and will
include them in the competitive scoring process for programs
such as BRIC. As we look to the challenges ahead, such as those
posed by climate change and severe wind, FEMA looks forward to
working with both our interagency program partners and Members
of this Committee to build a more resilient nation. Thank you
for the opportunity to testify.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Grimm follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairwoman Stevens. Great. Thank you so much, Mr. Grimm.
And at this point we're going to turn to our first round of
questions. The Chair is going to recognize herself for 5
minutes.
So, Dr. Weaver, in your testimony you mentioned that large
knowledge gaps remain in aspects of windstorm climatology and
hazards near the surface, as well as the development of tools
for windstorm impact assessment. Can you address what is needed
to help close these gaps, and why doing so is so important to
mitigating the damaging effects of windstorms?
Dr. Weaver. Sure. Thank you for that question. It's a very
important issue right now. I think, out in the public, we
assume when we're told the wind speeds in a hurricane, that
that means we know the precise wind speeds, and how they're
impacting buildings and other infrastructure at the surface.
Actually, the opposite is true. We really don't know much about
how the surface winds behave, let's say, in a landfalling
hurricane, for example. Oftentimes we do not have the requisite
observations of the wind, and sometimes even the rainfall
environment in those storms, and so it poses significant
challenges for us to understand precisely what buildings were
experiencing as a hurricane makes landfall.
There are efforts, ad hoc efforts, led by university
scientists. There's some sporadic funding from Federal agencies
here and there that fund scientists to actually deploy to the
storm ahead of its landfall to set up instrumentation, or
radars, and other kinds of observational equipment, but it's
not a standardized and well-coordinated program. It's mostly a
coalition of the willing. And so we've noticed that, when we
get those measurements, they are very important for us to
understand really what happened at the surface.
Chairwoman Stevens. And in our 2019 hearing there was some
discussion that barriers still exist, and more needs to be done
to facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration between the
scientists and the engineers supported under NWIRP, obviously
something that we're doing here today. But, Dr. Blevins, do you
anticipate new opportunities for large-scale collaborations on
natural hazards resilience under the new Technology, Innovation
and Partnerships Directorate at NSF? Has that been discussed
yet?
Dr. Blevins. Thank you, Chairwoman. It--the new
directorate, as proposed in the 2022 President's budget request
for technology innovation and partnerships will be running a
competition referred to as the Regional Innovation
Accelerators. That's in the plan, that's described in the
budget request, and those will be regional centers, if you
will, that are designed to bring people together from across
the disciplines, which is where NSF's sweet spot is, bringing
folks in from social science, as well as engineering,
geoscience, et cetera. And they--they'll be--I think that'll be
the type of opportunity that you're thinking of.
Chairwoman Stevens. Yeah. That's great. And so today's
tools, Dr. Weaver, such as field measurements, wind tunnel
testing and modeling, and post-disaster surveys, generate an
enormous amount of data. Do you mind explaining how NWIRP
facilitates inter-disciplinary research on development and
application of methods in artificial intelligence? You know, if
there's anything you could touch on there with some of these
new technologies and applications? We are all ears.
Dr. Weaver. Sure. So I can't speak directly specifically
to artificial intelligence, however, what I can tell you is
that we've developed an inter-agency post windstorm
coordination plan for hurricane landfall specifically at this
point, and we're using that plan--which outlines all the
different roles of the various Federal agencies that are
involved in NWIRP, to structure data collection for housing a
central data base that collects information from NOAA on the
hazard itself, from the researchers that are out in the field
from NSF, from FEMA, from our own deployments, and trying to
integrate all that information so that someone who's conducting
a post-windstorm investigation can overlay all of the social
data with the hazard data and the building data.
And there are other efforts out there at FEMA that has
this model, does some similar types of things, and so we're
looking to use that plan to bolster the data integration for
post-windstorm investigations.
Chairwoman Stevens. Great. And just to hop back to when we
were first talking, or my first question here on some of the
challenges to addressing research gaps, with just the remaining
time available, how much do you assume that those are cost
related, you know, if at all? I mean, are we talking about
insufficient funding here?
Dr. Weaver. So we typically do the best we can with the
resources that we have to work across the different agencies.
Our strategic plan is very comprehensive, and so, to be honest,
it's a challenge to implement the entire strategic plan. But
like I said, we try to prioritize and tackle what we can to the
best of our ability.
Chairwoman Stevens. Yeah. Right. Well, thank you so much.
With that, my 5 minutes are up, and I'm going to turn to Mr.
Waltz for 5 minutes of questioning.
Mr. Waltz. All right. Thank you. We'll see if the
technology holds this time. Dr. Blevins, the NSF supports, I
think as you mentioned, the Wall of Wind Experimental Facility
in Florida International University. It's--as you know, it's
capable of simulating category five hurricanes with winds over
150 miles an hour. How is research performed at user facilities
like the Wall of Wind then--how's that research then
transferred to industry? How's it transferred to stakeholders
to make improvements, to improve the resiliency of buildings
and other forms of infrastructure to windstorm hazards?
Dr. Blevins. Thank you, that's a great question. So in
facilities like the Wall of Wind, or the Boundary Layer Wind
Tunnel, we collect a lot of data on different scenarios, and
those data are used to improve--to develop and improve
predictive capabilities for windstorms and other type of
events. And so, through improving those predictive capabilities
and our simulations, we're able to actually provide input to
those who are developing the codes and standards for the
buildings, and so that's the pathway.
Mr. Waltz. I guess--how is it, then--I mean, are you
seeing it really incorporated? Are you satisfied with how it's
used? Do you wish industry would do more, you know, if you had
it your way kind of a thing? I'm just trying to--you know, I
understand the great research that's going on. I'm just trying
to better understand how it's utilized.
Dr. Blevins. Well, it's interesting that you should
mention industry, because also in Florida we have a relatively
new what we call Industry-University Coordination Research
Center, IUCRC Cooperative Research Center, and that particular
center is at Florida International. It's called the Center for
Wind Hazard and Infrastructure Performance, or WHIP, and the
way that IUCRCs work is they--the university scientists and
engineers are doing the research, but they have an advisory
board that consists of folks from industry.
And in this particular one it's from the construction
industry, from the insurance industry, from the risk assessment
industry that are sitting on this board, and those folks are
actually selecting the basic pre-competitive research that is
going to be done by the university researchers. And so, in that
way, we really are working hand in hand with our stakeholders
from industry. And early signs from that IUCRC are that there--
there's some early interest and some uptake from some of what's
going on in the research.
Mr. Waltz. Well, that's--no, that's great to hear, and
particularly that the insurance industry is there. I think one
of the issues is that we continue to--for a variety of reasons
that are probably too complex for my couple of minutes, but for
a variety of reasons we tend to subsidize and reinforce bad
behavior in the aftermath of these storms, so that's
reassuring, and I'd love to learn more about that facility, and
who's participating, and the uptake.
Just in the time I have remaining, Dr.--for Dr. Weaver, I
had already mentioned, you know, the 125,000 homes from
Hurricane Andrew, what our State and local officials in Florida
did to develop stronger building codes, and--given that NIST
supports research and development to improve model building
codes and voluntary consensus standards, best practices, can
you elaborate a little bit more on how NWIRP works with
standards bodies like the International Code Council, and
communities, to adopt windstorm resilient building codes to
avoid widespread losses similar to those from Hurricane Andrew?
Dr. Weaver. Great question. So NIST does not regulate or
develop the actual building code. What NIST's role,
principally, is in developing actionable science that could be
used to guide the processes that underpin standards
development, and code development, and implementation. So a
great example, not necessarily related to hurricanes at this
point, but a very new example is that out of our Joplin,
Missouri tornado investigation, one of the recommendations was
to develop tornado maps to guide the implementation of safe
design for the tornado hazard.
Now, this is the first time is ever being done. Previous
to that event it was just act of God, you can't design for
tornadoes. But now there are provisions that could be
voluntarily used to design for tornadoes, and that's going to
be coming up in the next American Society of Civil Engineers
publication that comes out in 2022 for this guidance.
So we work more on the scientific side. I mentioned the
measurement science issue with the hazards that occur in the
extreme winds in hurricanes, and we certainly look at that. We
are mission-assigned by FEMA to produce wind maps. We've done
it for Hurricane Irma, we've done it for Hurricane Dorian. We
were expecting that to make landfall, as you know, as a very
strong storm. Luckily it turned at the last minute. That
would've been a significant disaster for us. And so we are on
the front lines of that in many different ways.
Mr. Waltz. Well, thanks so much, and I certainly didn't
intend to suggest that NIST would create codes or standards. I
think that is rightly at the local level. But I think that--no,
that's a great example of what you just laid out. And, Madam
Chairman, I--looks like I'm over my time, and I yield. Thank
you so much.
Chairwoman Stevens. Yeah. That was great, thank you. And
with that, we're going to recognize Ms. Ross, Congresswoman
from the great State of North Carolina for 5 minutes of
questioning.
Ms. Ross. Thank you very much, Madam Chair, and this is a
very important issue for North Carolina, particularly for our
coast, but we've seen more inland tornadoes, and other kinds of
natural disasters in North Carolina. And we're no stranger to
FEMA, so, Mr. Grimm, I wanted to start with you and ask you a
few questions.
The first question really has to do with the electrical
grid, electricity grid, and how it responds to wind events, and
wanted to know from you what you think the impact of the new
infrastructure package, with its funding for upgrading the
electrical grid, and making it more resistant to wind and other
weather events, what effect that would have, and whether you
think the funding is sufficient?
Mr. Grimm. Well, thank you. Yeah, with regard to, you
know, what FEMA can provide, in terms of mitigation funding and
increasing resilience across many lifelines, including
electrical grid in communities, very important. You know, we
work with those communities to--I mentioned the BRIC Program in
particular, that enables funding for lifelines for--you know,
not only for residential and non-residential construction, but
also for community lifelines, things like electrical grids or
power lines, those sorts of infrastructure projects.
So with the recent announcement of the infrastructure
bill, of course, we're very excited to have additional
resources made available across the government, really, to have
a governmentwide mission and movement to make the Nation more
resilient, honestly, across multiple natural hazards, whether
it's windstorms, floods, earthquakes, you name it. Lifelines
are impacted by many different types of natural hazards, and we
need to do a better job, as a nation, addressing the hazards
before they happen, not just after they happen, so pre-disaster
mitigation is extraordinarily important, and getting ahead of
that. Of course, we've shown things like, you know, building
codes, for example, that we were just talking about----
Ms. Ross. Um-hum.
Mr. Grimm [continuing]. For every dollar invested, $11 in
return, and likewise on mitigation projects, every dollar
invested, $6 in return in general and--across the different
hazard areas. So anything we can do to increase our investment
ahead of disasters I think is a huge step forward.
Ms. Ross. That's great. You anticipated my second
question, which is the potential economic benefits of designing
climate-resilient business. When you talk about $1 invested,
this much in return, can you be more granular about where those
returns come from?
Mr. Grimm. Sure. So let me expand a little bit more on the
building codes. I mentioned the--$1 is $11 in return. We also
just released a codes safe study that we demonstrate $132
billion in losses avoided through the adoption of modern
building codes through 2040. So $132 billion, that's a huge
investment to those losses avoided as we look for--you know,
with climate change. When you look across the natural hazards,
whether it's wildfire, flood, wind, earthquake, there is always
a positive return on that investment for every dollar
investment. You know, it ranges from--I don't have the figures
right in front of me, but probably $4 to 11, depending on
which, you know, when you're looking at the granular data.
We often go in post-disaster and do what are called loss
avoidance studies, and we look at those investments we made
pre-disaster, so--let me give you an example. On the wind side
of things, where we--after Marilyn--after Hurricane Marilyn in
1995 in the USVI (United States Virgin Islands), and we
invested hazard mitigation grant dollars--after Harvey, Irma,
and Maria, we went back, with our inter-agency partners, on
what is called a mitigation assessment team to look at those
projects, and how they performed. And, indeed, we found that
all the projects that we invested those dollars in performed
extraordinarily well, and, you know, resulted in that cost
savings that you're asking about.
Ms. Ross. Thank you very much. I see my time's about to
expire, but at some point, maybe with one of the other
questions that you get, I'd love to hear how you make
investments in low-income communities that might not be able to
afford some of the more advanced engineering. And with that,
Madam Chair, I yield back.
Chairwoman Stevens. Thank you so much. And with that, the
Chair's going to recognize the Ranking Member of the Full
Committee, Mr. Lucas, for 5 minutes of questioning.
Mr. Lucas. Thank you, Madam Chair, and I appreciate the
importance of this hearing also. All of us who live on the east
side of the Rockies, on the Great Plains, from Canada to Texas,
understand how challenging the weather can be. Dr. Weaver, Dr.
Blevins, we've heard about the tornado damage caused in 2011,
and how NWIRP has changed in leadership and coordination from
when the program was last reauthorized. Could you compare where
we were a decade ago to where we are now, and what have we done
well, and what's the singular area that needs to be--needs the
most improvement, for our focus as a Committee?
Dr. Weaver. Sure. That's a very interesting question. So
NWIRP's inception, originally it was led by OSTP (Office of
Science and Technology Policy). In 2015 it was moved to NIST,
as you highlighted, and I think that gave it a permanent home,
and also the fact that NIST is more of a user of a lot of the
information, and is on the ground, dealing with the impacts,
and trying to understand that, is a good pull of information
from the other agencies, and so the coordination, I think, is
going well in that structure.
There are several successes that I think we've had. One is
our Tropical Cyclone Coordination Plan. That's been very
important to guide our activities. We've conducted a couple of
investigations in post-windstorms. The Joplin tornado has come
up with great recommendations. I mentioned one of those, about
tornado design, earlier in the hearing. We're currently doing a
hurricane Maria investigation, which is very comprehensive, and
inter-disciplinary, and will provide many recommendations for
the entire Nation, not just for Puerto Rico.
As far as challenges go, I think one of the unique things
about windstorm hazards is that we're operating in a situation
where the climate is not stationary. So with earthquakes, you
don't really have much changing. With some other hazards you
don't have much changing, but in a windstorm environment we
have this evolving climate system, and it's really hard to use
the historical data to get an accurate portrayal of the risk
when things are shifting so quickly, and so I think that's a
major challenge, for us to try to understand and stay ahead of
that with the building codes. So thank you.
Mr. Lucas. Dr. Blevins?
Dr. Blevins. Yes. Thank you very much. I think--to me, the
challenges that we have are around the sharing of data. We're
actually doing a really great job, but--around sort of
interoperability of data sets, and the--as Dr. Weaver mentioned
earlier, the ability for different teams going in from
different directions, and taking data, and being able to
coordinate all of that. The NSF sends these teams out. We are
able to do RAPID grants for people to go out and take data when
they're needed, and then we also have these reconnaissance
teams that we can send out. And I think just assembling all of
the data, and making it readily available is a big challenge.
Mr. Lucas. Absolutely. Back to you, Dr. Weaver. Can you
please discuss how NIST is working with NOAA to improve the
data and methods for tornado hazard mapping and damage modeling
through the House's program?
Dr. Weaver. Yes. I believe you said with NOAA, right? Was
that?
Mr. Lucas. Um-hum. Yes.
Dr. Weaver. Sure. Thank you for the clarification. So we
serve on a Wind Speed Estimation Committee. We have our
engineers that serve with NOAA, and NOAA leads this Windspeed
Standard Estimation Committee. And, as I mentioned previously,
one of our lead investigators from the Joplin, Missouri tornado
is very prominent in actively supporting that committee to
develop recommendations, and to develop science that can be
used for national tornado design, for infrastructure, and for
other critical facilities. And so that's principally how we
partner with them on the tornadoes.
Mr. Lucas. Dr. Grimm, on the remaining time I have, can
you discuss with us, how does FEMA ensure that it meets its
workforce demands, especially as the windstorm hazards are
increasing in frequency and intensity? How do you get enough
people there? Do you have enough people there?
Mr. Grimm. Sure, thank you. Yeah, certainly the amount of
work that FEMA has in front of us every year is a tremendous
amount of work, whether it's responding to disasters, or
mitigating disasters, or preparing for disasters. We have an
outstanding cadre of resources to respond to disasters. You
know, through--give you an example, throughout the pandemic,
FEMA has had to really change its posture on how we do
business, and that is including how we respond to disasters,
and how we run programs like the Windstorm Impact Program. So,
across the board, how do we deploy people, find new, innovative
ways to do things?
So, for example, we have found, you know, technology
enables us to deliver programs. It also enables us to deliver
our disaster assistance. We have programs such as FEMA Corps,
groups of young people who are just excited and outstanding,
who get out in disasters, and help our disaster survivors
recover. A--just, you know, a wealth of challenge, but a wealth
of programs and innovation, and being nimble on our feet to get
people out to help survivors.
Mr. Lucas. Thank you, Mr. Grimm. Thank you, Madam Chair.
My time's expired.
Chairwoman Stevens. Thank you. And with that, we're going
to recognize Dr. Foster for 5 minutes of questioning.
Mr. Foster. Thank you. Am I audible and visible here?
Chairwoman Stevens. Perfect.
Mr. Foster. Great. Well, thank you, Chairman Stevens,
Ranking Member Waltz, and our witnesses for joining us here
today, and for taking time out from what I presume are your
detailed planning on how you're going to invest the funds from
the bipartisan infrastructure bill that we sent you last week.
Now, my first question is about tornado research. Dr.
Blevins, I was particularly interested in your testimony on NSF
tornado research. Back on June 20th a tornado swept through my
district in suburban Chicago and caused millions of dollars of
damage, and in some cases complete destruction to homes and
properties in my district. Now, fortunately, no lives were
lost, in large part because of the timely cell phone warnings
that allowed people to seek shelter, often, you know, only
minutes or seconds before the tornado hit. So constituents in
my district don't have to be convinced of the value of detailed
and timely micro-meteorological forecasts and information.
Now, there's a program that's known as the Targeted
Observation by Radars and UAS (unmanned aircraft systems) of
Supercells, or TORUS, which is designed to increase
understanding of storm structures that may be attributed to
tornado genesis, but this was paused due to the COVID pandemic.
Do you have any knowledge of when it is expected to resume
research? You know, do you know how much data they were able to
gather before putting the work on pause, and if any of it has
yet been usable by NOAA in the interim?
Dr. Blevins. Thank you for the question. TORUS is a very
exciting project, as you state, that is centered at the
University of Nebraska that involves a number of other
institutions. And I understand that they were originally
scheduled to do field campaigns in 2019 and 2020. They were
able to do the field campaign in 2019, and I think they paused
for 2020 and 2021, and my understanding is that they should
pick back up again in 2022. And I think that is when the--that
experiment will be able to get----
Mr. Foster. Well, how do you generally view the future of
this kind of intensive targeted measurement, you know, that
follow a storm, compared to just increasing the quality and the
density of fixed ground-based measurements?
Dr. Blevins. I think they're going to become much more
important as we move ahead getting the data sort of in the real
world, and I think NSF has a really great mechanism to send
teams out to do that. Through its RAPID funding mechanism, we
can actually get those--we ask the PIs (principal
investigators) to justify why they can't get the data any other
way, other than doing this, and we--we're able to get those
awards out sometimes as quickly as just a couple of days
turnaround. And so NSF has really geared up. We also have--we
have a facility that's centered out of the University of
Washington that we call the RAPID Facility. It's part of NHERI,
actually. And then we have CONVERGE at the University of
Colorado, which pulls together and coordinates the data that
comes from the use of the equipment that's provided by the
RAPID Facility, our rapid reconnaissance teams, and others, and
is able to coordinate it. And so we really are geared up, and
we're ready for the increasing importance of getting these
kinds of quick turnaround data.
Mr. Foster. Yeah. Well, I look forward to a future where
swarms of drones fly into supercells, and get really detailed
information that allows us to have better predicted models.
Dr. Blevins. Sure.
Mr. Foster. My next question has to do with--you know, as
our witnesses have pointed out, we're not making investments,
despite the fact that they have a huge return on investment. I
think Mr. Grimm mentioned an 11 to 1 return on investments.
Though it always surprises me when there is an 11 to one return
on investment, and private markets are not making that
investment. Do you have any insight as to why markets have
failed to address this issue? Why doesn't the reduction in
insurance rates justify paying for these investments ahead of
time? And is there anything that government could do to deal
with this apparent market failure? This is a--yeah, I guess I
could kick this to Mr. Grimm, since he mentioned the return on
investment.
Mr. Grimm. Sure, thank you. Yeah, you know, it is a real
challenge to get investments in mitigation at all different
levels. You know, I emphasize the importance of pre-disaster
mitigation programs, and getting out there, and doing better
risk communication so homeowners truly understand their risk.
You know, whether it's from flood, or earthquake or wind, you
know, a lot of folks think that, you know, they may not be at
risk because they haven't experienced an event, or a loved one
hasn't experienced an event, so it's really personal. And doing
a better job at risk communication across the Nation, across
the--not just the Federal Government, but at all levels, and
teaming with the private sector--folks, for example, in the
reinsurance arena, a very important partner that we have, who
use data sets that we produce here at FEMA, and use data sets,
for example, from NOAA, and other agencies.
We recently put out something called the National Risk
Index (NRI), and it's very unique. It's--it looks at 18
different natural hazards across the Nation, it brings in
social vulnerability, and it brings in resilience, and it gives
you a risk index at the country and census level. So anybody
can type in their address and find out what risks and hazards
they may be at--you know, at risk from, and what actions they
could take, what investments that they could make. So some of
the private sector firms are leveraging our NRI, our National
Risk Index, in their risk communications, and just doing a
better job and--for everybody at the State, local, tribal
territory level to understand what investments to make, see
that return on investment in our pre-disaster mitigation.
Mr. Foster. All right. Thank you. It looks like my time's
expired, and I yield back.
Chairwoman Stevens. Yeah. And with that, we're going to go
to Dr. Baird for 5 minutes of questioning.
Mr. Baird. Thank you, Chairwoman Stevens, and Ranking
Member Waltz, and also the Committee Ranking Member Lucas. And,
you know, I always appreciate all the witnesses taking time to
be with us, and sharing their expertise, and their knowledge
and background. It helps us make a better decision as we
discuss legislation.
So my first question really goes to all the witnesses. The
Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure has been
rewarded with $5 million in funding by the NSF through 2025,
and its network coordinating office is physically located at
Purdue University, my alma mater, serving as the
administration's headquarters for the program's nationwide
network of 11 research facilities. So what I'd like to know is
can each of you speak to the importance of having an integrated
approach to these--natural disaster research, and then how we
might help, or what Congress might do regarding these hazard-
specific programs, and how we can better work together? So with
that, I would start with Dr. Weaver.
Dr. Weaver. Thank you for the question, Dr. Baird. So I
think one of the unique things about disasters, and studying
them, is that you need a highly inter-disciplinary team. I look
at our current investigation of Hurricane Maria, and on that
team you have meteorologists, climate scientists, engineers of
different types, social scientists, epidemiologists, and so we
have to focus on the hazard and, speaking as a meteorologist
and climate scientist, that's where I tend to go as well, so
I'm guilty of that.
We tend to focus on the hazard, which is definitely
important, and the changes in hazards are definitely important,
but I also think we really need to be inter-disciplinary in our
approach, and that's not easy. It's a challenge, because we all
speak different languages, if you will, different scientific
languages. And it's truly difficult to do that, so I would like
to see more support, however it comes, for inter-disciplinary
research when it comes to disasters, to nurture that
integration.
Mr. Baird. Well, thank you very much for that perspective.
Dr. Blevins, would you care to elaborate on that, and the
effect of the coordination, and the importance of coordination
on this research?
Dr. Blevins. Yes. Thank you, Representative Baird. I've
actually been to the Purdue Coordinating Office. I'm actually
Purdue alumna myself. I have----
Mr. Baird. Yay.
Dr. Blevins [continuing]. My Ph.D. in Mechanical
Engineering from there, so--I was able to go in 2019 and visit,
and I met the director, and the principal investigator, and
they gave me a very wonderful presentation on all the great
things that they're doing to coordinate the--all the different
kinds of research that we're doing on earthquake, on wind, and
on water events across the NHERI network. And I think this
facility, this piece of the NHERI facility, really points out
and emphasizes the strength of NSF, which is to bring all the
disciplines together. We fund basic research across all the
different science and engineering disciplines, and we are--one
of our 10 big ideas is in increasing convergence research,
which is really taking inter-disciplinary research up a notch
to the next level to really be able to do big things that no
discipline could do by itself.
So the other thing that I want to point out about that
particular location at Purdue is the education and workforce
piece. Everything we fund at NSF integrates the--integrates
research with education, but that particular site at Purdue
coordinates the research experience for undergraduates program
for NHERI, and really creates those opportunities for
undergraduates to get interested in research and natural
disasters. And this is really a field that can really inspire
people. In fact, just preparing for this hearing really
inspired me, and looking across the breadth of research in this
area, and just the importance of it for reducing the loss of
life and property for the Nation. So I think that that's one
area where a facility--a site like the Purdue site can really
contribute.
The other thing that that site does it really engages in
unified sort of outreach to educate the public about the work
that's being done, and they can do that across the multiple
hazards, which you've already mentioned. And increasingly these
things are actually happening together, and so I think having a
coordination office like that is really critical.
Mr. Baird. Thank you very much. I really appreciate that
perspective. And, Mr. Grimm, I've run out of time, and so I
would really like to have had your perspective. With that, I
yield back.
Chairwoman Stevens. Sounds like a good question for the
record. But, with that, the Chair is going to recognize
Congresswoman Wild for 5 minutes of questioning.
Ms. Wild. Thank you so much, Madam Chair, and I'm just so
glad we're having this hearing. I represent Pennsylvania's 7th
District, the Greater Lehigh Valley area. For those of you who
aren't familiar with the geography of Pennsylvania, it's on the
eastern side of the State, between--about midway between
Philadelphia and Scranton, and it's an area that is very, very
susceptible to storm-related flooding. We've got two rivers
that, unfortunately, almost routinely flood, and, you know, the
concept of 100-year floods have now become every couple of year
floods in our district, so this is a really timely hearing.
And one of the things I wanted to follow up on, Dr.
Weaver, with regard--and--but this is really for anybody who
wants to comment. On the interdisciplinary aspects of this kind
of research, you know, the human element of disaster
preparedness, and response, and recovery is so important. It's
become really vital here in my district. And I'd love to hear
from any of you how the National Windstorm Impact Reduction
Program leverages social science research to accomplish the
goals of the program to protect life and property.
Dr. Weaver. Sure, I'm happy to start. So NWIRP writ large,
as well as NIST as an agency, I'm speaking for both in some
sense, we value social science. In our investigation of
Hurricane Maria, we have several social scientists on the team.
There are projects that underpin the larger investigation that
focus explicitly on social impacts, social and economic
impacts, and so we know, as I had just mentioned, that it's not
just about hazard levels, right? It's about how people respond
to warnings, it's about how people prepare, were they prepared?
What did they do? What were the impacts to them, and what were
they thinking?
As far as NWIRP as a program, it has incorporated social
science objectives into its strategic plan. So they're there,
they're on paper, they're something that guides our strategy.
And then I'll just say, the NWIRP agencies, they participate in
several workshops that are led by social scientists in the
natural hazard space. One I can think of is the Natural Hazard
Center at the University of Colorado. They have an annual
workshop, and many of our agencies figure prominently in that
workshop. And so we're very supportive, and it's necessary to
bring that into the fold.
Ms. Wild. Thanks. Dr. Blevins or Mr. Grimm, any--did you
want to respond further, or should I move on?
Dr. Blevins. I'll--I'd like to say something. I just want
to mention that the NSF has a whole directorate called the
Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Directorate, and
they're very important partners in this work with us. They look
at how people respond to emergency warnings, for example,
understanding what, you know, motivates or keeps people from
preparing their homes or their local environments to be more
resilient to storms.
And even, you know, recently we had a couple of RAPIDs
that we've been funding to look at people's attitudes toward,
for example, evacuating during the pandemic, and going to a
shelter when we're having a pandemic, and whether they feel
safer in their homes versus in the shelter with a lot of other
people, even when measures are being taken in the shelters to
socially distance, et cetera.
So I think it's very important we--and on the flooding
part, we also have a federally funded research and development
center called the National Center for Atmospheric Research, or
NCAR, that's helping develop NOAA's water model, which is very
critical to predicting flooding events.
Ms. Wild. Well, thank you. Thank you very much. Another
question that I have in a kind of different direction, for any
witness that would like to answer, but I'm going to expedite my
question, since my time's running out, what would it take to
design buildings that are optimized for resilience to multiple
hazards? And how might that approach be further integrated into
approaches related to energy efficiency? And, Mr. Grimm, I
haven't heard from you yet. You want to take that one for us?
Mr. Grimm. Sure, absolutely. When we work together across
the inter-agency, we absolutely look, you know, at codes in an
all-hazards way. Energy efficiency is an aspect that can--is--
can be further developed within many codes, but looking across
the different natural hazards, and--you know, pick a region,
right? There's--you could be--as you pointed out, your area is
subject to flooding, to wind hazards, to other hazards, and
working with those communities to adopt--and not change the
code that they adopt, right, to adopt the full code from the
most recent set of codes, and not remove specific hazards from
those, so that we do have a comprehensive code, it's very--one
of the last questions previous questions talked about the gaps
in the data, and understanding that data, and how we improve
the codes as we move through the code cycles. We all work
together not just in this--in the wind space, but also in the
flood space, and in other hazards within the inter-agency, and
advocate for those codes.
But getting the data, and understanding that data,
translating it into what code improvements need to be made--I
think Dr. Weaver pointed out a number of improvements that does
inter-agency--we've worked on in the code series it--
particularly around the research in wind. We mentioned
Hurricane Andrew, Hurricane Marilyn in the USVI, Harvey, Irma,
Maria as well resulted in certain code changes. And, likewise,
we'll be working in the multi-hazard space to ensure that codes
are addressing, you know, multi-hazard for those areas and
those geographies.
Ms. Wild. Thank you so much. With that, my time is up, and
I yield back, Madam Chair.
Chairwoman Stevens. Thank you, Congresswoman. And with
that, the Chair is going to recognize Congressman Gonzalez for
5 minutes of questioning.
Mr. Gonzalez. Thank you, Madam Chair, for holding this
important hearing today, and thank you to our witnesses for
sharing their expertise. As our witnesses have described, the
negative effects windstorms have on all our communities is all
too evident . While they vary based on region, in my home State
of Ohio, tornadoes and storms off Lake Erie have caused great
injury, certainly property destruction, and even death in
recent years. I don't remember happening as much as a kid. It
just feels like it's happening more and more often, and I
believe the data is starting to bear that out.
Dr. Blevins, I want to start with you, because you
noticed--or you noted how the use of AI has already had a
significant impact on addressing the research needs of pressing
environmental concerns. I want you to dive deep on that for me,
so how do you see AI playing a role in tracking future
windstorms, and what does that technology look like today?
Dr. Blevins. Thank you. Despite 18 months of this, I still
can't find the unmute button. Thanks for the question. So we
have a program called the AI Institutes--AI Research Institutes
Program. It's a major program--it's a flagship program that
we've been running for the last couple of years at the
Foundation, and this creates big coalitions of folks, different
kinds of researchers, different kinds of institutions, coming
together to collaborate. An important one of these is--it's
called AI2ES, and this is AI for environmental science, and
this is--actually, out of the University of Oklahoma. It's the
lead institution, but, of course, there are many institutions
involved. And this is really aiming to take this--the tools of
machine learning and artificial intelligence, and tell us more
about what's going on with these types of storms, windstorms
being one of them, and--one of those types.
And so I think that--I think the community is--this
community, disaster resilience research community, is very
excited about bringing these tools, artificial intelligence,
machine learning, online. I think it's going to help to take
some of the routine determinations and work out of it, and the
artificial intelligence could be used, and the machine
learning, by training the models, can be used to--for us to be
able to get to the harder parts that require the human
intelligence to intervene that much more efficiently. So I
think it's a--it has great potential, and the community's very
excited about it, so I thank you for that question.
Mr. Gonzalez. Yeah. And then what, if anything, should we
be thinking about to help the research community leverage AI
even more in this area? Is there something we can do from a
data standpoint, or--I don't know. I guess I'll just turn it
over to you. What else can we do to improve that?
Dr. Blevins. Well, I think part of the--you know, part of
the issue with using machine learning is having good data sets
that are well defined, they're clean, they have well defined
metadata and assumptions that you can make about the data sets.
And so I think that the kinds of facilities that we have,
through NCAR, and through NHERI, and through, you know, NIST
and FEMA, all of us working together to get those data sets as
clean as possible, and to constantly improve them, new
measurement techniques, new ways of deploying them in the
field. I think anything we can do to make the data better is
going to make that technology really shine in making an impact
on this problem.
Mr. Gonzalez. And then staying with you, and I know I only
have just a few seconds, but in your testimony you highlight
the importance of supporting and preserving research as natural
disasters unfold. Could you go into detail of how strengthened
inter-agency coordination could result in a more holistic and
efficient Federal response in gathering research for
windstorms?
Dr. Blevins. Well, I think we have--we have a hub that's
called Design Safe, right, that's operated--it's led out of the
University of Texas, and it really brings together a lot of
different types of infrastructure--cyber infrastructure to make
that happen. And so I--that's my----
Mr. Gonzalez. OK. Sounds good. Well, I see my time is
almost up, so with that, I will yield back to the Chair. Thank
you.
Chairwoman Stevens. Thank you. Thank you all, our Members
for the questions, and obviously our witnesses, for today's
critical hearing on NWIRP, and what is obviously much needed in
leading to its reauthorization. The purpose of today's hearing
was to review the activities of NWIRP, including the importance
of inter-agency collaboration, which is no easy feat, but
obviously we've got some of the best here, and a lot of
tremendous expertise, and so the Committee's going to clearly
continue to consider new and evolving challenges to improve
windstorm and windstorm impact resilience, and opportunities to
improve this program, the NWIRP Program.
And certainly, as we think about our large country, and
how every State is impacted by windstorms, and has a need for
resilience, we also want to evaluate who has access to those
dollars. I'm here in the city of Farmington, certainly needing
the FEMA dollars in the aftermath of the windstorm that we had
earlier this summer, but we also think about low-income
communities, and low-income residents in our communities, and
who signs up, and who gets access to resources for resiliency,
specifically as a couple of my colleagues were talking about
insurance, and access to insurance, and the dollars for that.
So we're going to continue to work on it, certainly the next
phase is going to be, you know, our markup, and our ability to
reauthorize this program. I, as Chair, really want to get there
with this.
And so the record's going to remain open for a couple of
weeks, 2 weeks officially, for additional questions or
statements from Members that they may ask of our witnesses. But
at this time our witnesses are excused, our virtual hearing is
now adjourned. Thank you.
[Whereupon, at 11:21 a.m., the Subcommittee was
adjourned.]
Appendix I
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Answers to Post-Hearing Questions
Answers to Post-Hearing Questions
Responses by Dr. Scott Weaver
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Responses by Dr. Linda Blevins
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Responses by Mr. Michael Grimm
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Appendix II
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Additional Material for the Record
Letter submitted by Representative Haley Stevens
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Statement submitted by the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[all]