TAO Consulting is a leading emerging technology and circular economy advisory group that develops comprehensive and visionary cross-sectoral strategies for the diverse maritime eco-systems (Academia, Research Labs, Government Agencies, Defense Departments, Ocean Industry, Investment, Insurance, Legal, Technology, Foundations, NGOs, Trade Associations and Global Institutions) to accelerate the growth of the blue economy and blue tech globally.
Author Archives: FoNOAA Admin
American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS)
www.aibs.org
The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) scientific association dedicated to advancing the biological sciences to promote the increased understanding of all life. AIBS was formed with a vision of bringing together the organizations and individuals that advance the biological sciences to work together on matters best addressed through united action. Founded in 1947 as a part of the National Academy of Sciences, AIBS became an independent, member-governed organization in the 1950s. Today, AIBS has more than 110 member organizations and is headquartered in Herndon, VA. Staff members work to achieve its mission by publishing the peer-reviewed journal BioScience, by providing scientific peer review and advisory services to a variety of clients, and by collaborating with scientific organizations to advance public policy, education, and the public understanding of science. AIBS continues to adapt its programs to the rapid social, technological, and economic changes that are influencing the practice of the life sciences.
AIBS works with any stakeholder that advances the broad field and profession of biology. Organizations partner with us on initiatives, work with us to identify and communicate matters of common concern, and help connect us to their communities for idea and information exchange – particularly regarding public policy, education, public understanding of science, and matters of professional concern. AIBS has member societies and organizations that support our work financially. AIBS provides services to a wide variety of scientific funding groups that include government agencies, industry, private research foundations, and other non-governmental organizations.
Friends of NOAA supports robust FY23 302(b) funding for NOAA research
Friends of NOAA joins other institutions and organizations to support robust FY23 302(b) funding for the Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) portfolio, which includes the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The federal government is the country’s largest provider for basic research, which is necessary to keep the United States at
the forefront of innovations. Healthy funding for CJS portfolio research programs is congruent with the goal of Friends of NOAA for NOAA to be a premier agency for climate and extreme weather research, in order for NOAA to fulfill its Weather Ready Nation mission.
You can read the FY23 CJS 302(b) letter here.
Reston Consulting Group (RCG)
Reston Consulting Group, Inc. (dba RCG, Inc.) was founded in 1987 as a Minority & Woman-Owned Small Business. RCG provides innovative IT solutions and outstanding service to help clients achieve technical, business and mission success. We have a proven record of both individual and teaming success providing IT, data center consolidation and virtualization, service desk, CIRT, infrastructure and cyber security support to government and commercial clients.
RCG has supported numerous NOAA line offices since our inception, to include the National Weather Service (NWS); National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Services (NESDIS); NWS, National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), Ocean Prediction Center (OPC), U.S. National Ice Center (USNIC); NOAA Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO); and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). RCG was awarded it’s first IT contract with NOAA in 1987 and we have over 35 years of continuous service to the NOAA mission and serve as a WRN ambassador.
FY23 Appropriations
The following are links to the FY23 requested budget by NOAA (Blue Book, Congressional Justification)
https://www.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/2022-05/Final_FY23_NOAA_Blue_Book.pdf
https://www.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/2022-04/NOAAFY23CJ.pdf
Read the full FoNOAA letter sent to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees.
Friends of NOAA requests $7.2B for NOAA in FY23
Recognizing the world class scientific, economic, safety, and public health benefits that NOAA provides our nation, the Friends of NOAA (FoNOAA) strongly encourages Congress fund the Agency at a level of at least $7.2 billion in FY 2023. This funding increase is essential to enable NOAA to continue its leadership, front-line role in confronting the global climate crisis.
The services and outreach provided by NOAA offices are critical to citizens and policy makers’ ability to protect life and property, and to make decisions that mitigate environmental impacts. They also play an important role in informing strategic investments and improvements to build back an improved and more equitable economy and society in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
Robust and predictable science funding for NOAA is critical for our nation’s security and to remain a world leader in climate, atmospheric and oceanic science, research, and technology. This support will also allow the Agency to continue to build partnerships with industry, which improves the nation’s ability to turn science into real-world success, and with community stakeholders, who are critical to locally-informed solutions and public education.
Read more here: https://friendsofnoaa.earth/Friends of NOAA FY 23 Appropriations Letter
Capitol Hill Ocean Week 2022
The decisions that governments, businesses, and communities make today will have long-term impacts on the health of our blue planet. Join the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation in Washington, DC or virtually for Capitol Hill Ocean Week (CHOW) from June 7 – 9, 2022, themed “Sea: The Future,” to celebrate the 50 years of progress achieved and to set a course for the new policies and actions necessary to sustain our ocean, coasts, and Great Lakes and transform our future.
BreezoMeter
BreezoMeter’s mission is to improve the health and safety of billions of people worldwide exposed to environmental hazards such as wildfires, air pollution, pollen, and more. Our Health-focused Environmental Intelligence enables the transformation of businesses and consumers to become climate-aware and climate-resilient.
Lewis Burke Associates
Lewis-Burke Associates, LLC is a leading government relations firm specializing in advocating for the public policy interests of institutions of higher education and other research and education organizations. Within the Friends of NOAA, Lewis-Burke represents the many priorities relevant to the external research community including on budget and NOAA policy issues. More information about Lewis-Burke and the climate practice can be found here.
NOAA Administrator Dr. Spinrad comments on the signing of the bipartisan infrastructure investment
The following is released from NOAA, and can be found at https://www.noaa.gov/news-release/statement-from-noaa-administrator-rick-spinrad-on-signing-of-bipartisan-infrastructure-investment?s=03
“NOAA touches the life of every American each day, and the historic investments reflected in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed today by President Biden underscore the importance of our science, service, and stewardship mission. Over the next five years the $2.96 billion dollar investments for NOAA laid out in this legislation will improve and significantly expand equitable access to our weather and climate prediction capabilities and services; enhance coastal resilience and habitat restoration efforts, including Pacific salmon recovery; and improve our modeling capacity through investments in supercomputing infrastructure.
The nation’s infrastructure of the future needs to be climate smart, climate ready, and climate resilient to prepare communities for the on the ground impacts of increasingly intense precipitation, hurricanes, flooding, drought, extreme heat, and fire weather events. As an integral part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, NOAA’s data, analysis and predictions are used by businesses of all sizes to make critical decisions daily. This significant increase in resources for NOAA will benefit the business community across a range of sectors from agriculture to energy to transportation, especially when it comes to products and services that help prepare for extreme weather and climate-driven events.
This historic investment would not be possible without the extraordinary leadership of President Biden and his strong vision for resilient infrastructure and efficient operations of many sectors, and for the House and Senate leaders who support making it a reality.”
— Dr. Rick Spinrad
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act: A $2.96 billion investment in NOAA’s future
Science
- $492 million to improve NOAA’s coastal and inland flood mapping, forecasting, and water modeling. These investments will improve NOAA’s capability to better inform life and property decisions and mitigate flooding impacts to the U.S. population and economy.
- $150 million to enhance observing systems that gather crucial data about our coastal, ocean and Great Lakes environment. NOAA will make critical investments in advanced observing technology. These investments will help measure how environmental observing systems can provide critical data about the marine ecosystem.
- $50 million to improve wildfire prediction, modeling, and forecasting. NOAA will work to improve short-term forecasts to better predict fire behavior and longer-term modeling of interactions among climate variability, climate change, and the likelihood of hazardous wildfire conditions.
- $50 million for scientific instruments and equipment to support wildfire observation. NOAA will procure new instruments and equipment, and update existing equipment to improve wildfire prediction, detection, observation, modeling, and forecasting.
- $1 million for research on soil moisture and snowpack in the upper Missouri River basin. This investment will support the NOAA National Mesonet Program to establish a monitoring system for forecasters and river managers to adequately assess drought conditions and flood potential—both of which are critical to the protection of life and property in the entire Missouri River Basin.
Service
- $491 million to provide funding and technical assistance to restore marine, estuarine, and Great Lakes ecosystems, and to help prevent flood damage in coastal communities. This investment helps protect the safety and well-being of coastal communities by buffering shorelines from erosion, reducing flooding, and removing potentially hazardous structures.
- $80 million to improve supercomputing infrastructure to support weather and climate models. This investment will enable NOAA to procure research supercomputing equipment used for weather and climate model development to improve drought, flood, and wildfire prediction, detection, and forecasting.
- $56 million to enhance Regional Ocean Partnerships for the coordination of interstate and intertribal management of ocean and coastal resources. This investment will enhance the use of Regional Ocean Partnerships — voluntary, multi-state, typically Governor-established forums that identify shared priorities and take action on a diversity of ocean, coastal and Great Lakes issues important to their geographies and communities. With NOAA’s support, these long-standing partnerships are an effective means of fostering best practices of interagency coordination, data-informed ocean and coastal management, and thoughtful engagement with regional constituents.
- $25 million to enable data acquisition that supports improved measurements of soil moisture and snowpack. This investment will support a NOAA study and pilot program with the state mesonet programs in the Upper Missouri River Basin. The program will examine soil moisture and snowpack monitoring in the Upper Missouri River Basin pursuant to section 511(b)(3) of the Water Resources Development Act of 2020.
Stewardship
- $492 million to support coastal resilience and restoration through National Oceans and Coastal Security Fund grants. This investment supports climate-resilient adaptation for industry and communities, and promotes sustainable job opportunities. Funding will help restore and strengthen natural infrastructure to protect coastal communities, including those who have historically lacked investment and access to resources, while also enhancing habitats for fish and wildlife.
- $400 million to enhance fish passage by restoring barriers and providing technical assistance under the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act (15% of funding reserved for tribes). These funds will help protect and restore habitats that sustain fisheries, recover protected species, and maintain resilient ecosystems and communities.
- $207 million for habitat restoration through the Coastal Zone Management Act. Coastal Zone Management grants will enable approved coastal programs to better prepare for and become more resilient to storms, flooding and inundation, erosion, tsunamis, sea-level rise and lake-level changes, and other natural hazards that affect U.S. coastlines.
- $200 million to support marine debris prevention and removal ($50M reserved for NOAA Sea Grant). These investments will support the NOAA Marine Debris Program, which promotes action to reduce debris in our ocean, including clean up and response needed as a result of severe marine debris events.
- $172 million to support recovery efforts for Pacific coastal salmon. These investments will protect, restore, and conserve Pacific salmon and steelhead and their habitats through competitive funding to states and Tribes.
- $77 million to support habitat restoration through the National Estuarine Research Reserves. These investments will support stewardship activities at each of the 29 National Estuarine Research Reserves that support habitat conservation, restoration, and the development of decision support tools.
- $20 million to support Endangered Species Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act, and Essential Fish Habitat consultation and permitting. These investments will allow NOAA to provide more efficient, accurate, and timely permit reviews, through the training of personnel, development of programmatic documents, procurement of technical or scientific services, development of data and information systems, stakeholder and community engagement, and the development of analysis tools, techniques, and guidance.