While the USGS presence and efforts in Alaska are significant, they are clearly not adequate to meet the growing needs of an area that will see major growth in tourism and resource development.
Quotes about usgs (8 Quotes)
The USGS presence and efforts in Alaska, while significant, are clearly not adequate to meet the growing needs of a frontier area that will see major growth as our need for resources increases and tourism continues to surge. There are many competing priorities in the lower 48 states.
USG's announcement of an agreement to resolve asbestos personal injury claims should show the U. S. Senate once and for all exactly why S.852 is a boon to a handful of Fortune 50 companies and a death knell to smaller and medium-sized companies. It is rare that the financial benefits inherent in a piece of legislation for a single company are so clearly quantified -- no wonder companies like USG are spending millions of dollars on advertising to get this bill passed.
In my own area, Hood Canal, we are working with the USGS on dealing with this oxygenation problem.
Re-evaluation doesn't guarantee program growth. But because of this history of cooperation between USGS and partner scientific organizations, Alaska presents an ideal situation for further development of an integrated science approach to understanding complex resources and environmental systems. These factors, combined with the critical need for scientific information to support far-reaching resources and environmental policy decisions in Alaska, clearly merits a new look at our efforts there and an assessment of the willingness of those who control the purse strings to support more work.
Myers and Jeff Williams, another USGS scientist, noted that the lake already is polluted. Still, it is a critical estuary that supports important fisheries and wildlife habitat. Clearly, there is cause for concern ... How much of a negative impact ... we are not in a position to say.
USG's other announcement today, its earnings report, also explodes the myths advanced by advocates of S.852, that the bill must be passed to save jobs lost through the enormous financial pain being endured by big corporate asbestos defendants. In its press release, the company reports 'Record Fourth Quarter 2005 Net Sales of 1.3 billion.' That the Senate would now shower companies like USG with even more benefits from S.852 is mind-boggling.
A database is being built to house all of the data we collected, and by displaying the data in a time-series manner, USGS scientists will get a visual sense for the flood inundation as reported by the loggers.