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In his 2013 State of the Union address, President Obama called on Congress to create an Energy Security Trust Fund, which would free American families and business from painful spikes in gas prices. The President’s plan builds on an idea that has bipartisan support from experts including retired admirals and generals and leading CEOs, and it focuses on one goal: shifting America’s cars and trucks off oil entirely.

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After the end of the public comment period, the Department will consider comments received and prepare a Final SEIS.

They are taking signatures through the end of Tuesday. Please forward to your colleagues.

It is our hope that you will nominate an economic geologist for the position of USGS Director,” the senators wrote. “We believe that an individual with such a background could most effectively balance the additional activities that USGS has taken on over the years with those contemplated by its Organic Act, which provides for ‘the classification of the public lands and examination of the geological structure, mineral resources and products of the national domain.’”

The resignation of Marcia McNutt, the previous USGS Director, was announced in January and took effect today.

If confirmed, Ms. Jewell, a former oil company official and longtime advocate for conservation and outdoor recreation, will take over a department that has been embroiled in controversy over regulation of oil and gas on public lands and waters in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Arctic Ocean. She also will assume responsibility for the stewardship of hundreds of millions of acres of public lands, from the Everglades of Florida to the Cascades of Washington State.

• America's energy and natural resources policy must be re-imagined. The year 2020 is a sensible horizon for implementation.
• As we move ahead to 2020, Congress should enact discrete bills and conduct targeted oversight that proceeds from an understanding of the facts.
• There is a consensus that it is in our national interest to make energy abundant, affordable, clean, diverse, and secure. Our challenge is to align federal law and policy with that consensus.
• Energy 20/20 includes ideas under seven categories: producing more, consuming less, clean energy technology, energy delivery infrastructure, effective government, environmental responsibility and “an energy policy that pays for itself.”

“Congress has not been interested in acting, especially in the House, in the last two years. So we’re calling on the president to develop a plan for the administration to take action without action without Congress. … That may well spur Congress to act,” Waxman, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, told reporters Thursday.

NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco announced today that she will step down in February, ending a four-year tenure that saw the longtime academic juggle a slate of controversial issues, from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill to the skyrocketing cost of weather satellites.

In an email to employees this morning, Lubchenco wrote that she was leaving the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to return to her family and academic career in Oregon.

"As many of you know, my home and family are on the West Coast. I'm deeply grateful for the support and love of my family, but as wonderful as Skype is for staying in touch, it is not a viable long-term arrangement!" she wrote.

Lubchenco became the first woman to lead NOAA in 2009, after President Obama nominated her to much acclaim from environmental groups and oceans advocates. The confirmation of Lubchenco, a marine biologist, also represented a shift for an agency whose previous two leaders had backgrounds in oceanography.

In her email, Lubchenco highlighted 20 "top achievements" during her time at the agency, including "ending over-fishing," strengthening the nation's environmental satellite infrastructure and creating the first National Ocean Policy.

"We've tackled some big challenges together," she wrote. "Through an emphasis on transparency, integrity, innovation, team work and communication, we have made significant progress on multiple fronts. As you know, NOAA's breadth is one of our greatest challenges, but it's also our great strength."

Names of several possible replacements have been bandied about among ocean experts who track NOAA issues, including Terry Garcia, Frances Ullmer and Andrew Rosenberg. Garcia, a lawyer, is a former NOAA official who is currently a vice president at the National Geographic Society. He and Ullmer, former lieutenant governor of Alaska, both served on the administration's national commission to investigate the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Rosenberg, a scientist, was head of the fisheries service under the Clinton administration and served on the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy and the National Academy of Sciences Ocean Studies Board. He was recently named chief scientist at Conservation International.

But the NOAA post could go unfilled for some time, as the administration will have to first appoint and confirm a secretary of Commerce. That post has remained empty since John Bryson resigned in June, due to health problems and a related hit-and-run crash he was involved with in California.

As news spread of Lubchenco's exit, environmentalists praised her tenure as one marked by a focus on science.

Janis Searles Jones, the interim president of the Ocean Conservancy, credited Lubchenco with leading a "forward-looking agency determined to preserve the ocean for generations to come."

"Ever a teacher, Dr. Lubchenco has been one of the most steadfast champions of science and the need for scientists to become solutions-oriented at a time when restoring scientific integrity is an urgent priority for the country," Jones said in a statement. "Under her leadership, NOAA renewed its focus on key ocean issues like ending overfishing, reducing marine debris, protecting the Arctic and tackling climate change and ocean acidification."

But Lubchenco's tenure has not been without controversy.

In 2010, Massachusetts Democrats Barney Frank and John Tierney called for Lubchenco's resignation after an inspector general's report found NOAA's law enforcement officials used penalties collected from fishermen to buy cars and boats, go to international conferences and fund covert activities with little budget oversight. Frank later backed down from what he called too drastic a demand (Greenwire, July 12, 2010). Fishermen frustrated with new catch limits have also blamed Lubchenco, who they perceived as in league with environmentalists. Hundreds of fishermen gathered in Washington, D.C., at two protests during her tenure.

More recently, Lubchenco faced questions from lawmakers on financial mismanagement at the National Weather Service. An internal investigation found that NWS officials had reallocated tens of millions of dollars without required congressional approval, prompting NWS Director Jack Hayes to retire. The cause is still unclear, and several investigations are under way (Greenwire, Oct. 18).

Lubchenco has also had to deal with funding shortfalls for the Joint Polar Satellite System, which collects the bulk of data used to make weather forecasts and issue hurricane and tornado warnings. Lawmakers have cringed at the cost of the $12.9 billion effort, while Lubchenco has stressed the need to make up for past funding shortfalls that are expected to lead to a substantial gap in data collection.

Congressman Hultgren, named earlier this year as the Science Coalition’s Champion of Science, also represents Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill. Fermilab has long been at the cutting edge of physics research, but also serves the community through outreach, teaching, and technological advancement.

Multiple observations provide strong evidence of widespread, sustained change driving Arctic environmental system into new state.

Times of transformation are also times of opportunity. In the main text of this report, we recommend
a series of actions that follow from what we see as five key opportunities:

• Key Opportunity #1. The Nation has the opportunity to maintain its world-leading position
in R&D investment, structured as a mutually supporting partnership among industry,
the Federal Government, universities, and other governmental and private entities.

• Key Opportunity #2. The Federal Government has the opportunity to enhance its role as
the enduring foundational investor in basic and early applied research in the United
States. It can adopt policies that are most consistent with that role. Federal policy can
seek to foster a sustainable R&D enterprise in which, when research is deemed worth
supporting, it is supported for success.

• Key Opportunity #3. Federal agencies have the opportunity to grow portfolios that more
strategically support a mix of evolutionary vs. revolutionary research; disciplinary vs. interdisciplinary
work; and project-based vs. people-based awards.

• Key Opportunity #4. There is the opportunity for government to create additional policy
encouragements and incentives for industry to invest in research, both on its own and in
new partnerships with universities and the National Laboratories.

• Key Opportunity #5. Research universities have the opportunity to strengthen and enhance
their additional role as hubs of the innovation ecosystem. While maintaining the
intellectual depth of their foundations in basic research, they can change their educational
programs to better prepare their graduates to work in today’s world. They can
become more proactive in transferring research results into the private sector.

The table in Section 1.7 summarizes the sets of actions that we discuss and recommend in
support of each key opportunity. Full discussion of each action is in the main text. However, a
few of the more important ones deserve mention here.

(Action #1.1) PCAST recommends reaffirming the President’s goal that total R&D expenditures
should achieve and sustain a level of 3 percent of GDP. Congressional authorization committees
should take ownership of pieces of that goal, with the Executive Branch and Congress establishing
policies to enhance private industry’s major share.

(Action #1.2) Recognizing the inherent political difficulty, PCAST nevertheless urges Congress
and the Executive Branch to find one or more mechanisms for increasing the stability and predictability
of Federal research funding, including funding for research infrastructure and facilities.
Possibilities include a cross-agency multiyear program and financial plan akin to Department
of Defense’s (DoD) Future Years Defense Program (FYDP) or closer coupling of multiyear
authorizations to actual appropriations for R&D.

(Action #1.3) The Research and Experimentation Tax Credit (usually called the R&D tax credit)
needs to be made permanent. An increase in the rate of the alternative simplified credit from
14 percent to 20 percent would not be excessive. The credit also needs to be made more useful
to small and medium enterprises that are R&D intensive by instituting any or all of (1) refundable
tax credits, (2) transferable tax credits, or (3) modifications in the definition of net operating
loss to give advantage to R&D expenditures.

(Action #2.1) Regulatory and policy reform regarding universities is needed and should be
spearheaded by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Office of Science and Technology
Policy (OSTP). Building on efforts already initiated by the Administration, regulations and
policies which do not add value or enhance accountability should be eliminated. There is a remarkable
consensus among stakeholders inside and outside government about how to proceed,
and significant progress is within reach.

(Action #3.1) Each agency should have a strategic plan that explicitly addresses the different
kinds of research activities that can contribute to its mission, specifically addressing the axes of
evolutionary vs. revolutionary research, disciplinary vs. interdisciplinary work, and project-
based vs. people-based awards. The elements of such plans should be explicitly supported
by different kinds of merit review mechanisms (Action #3.2).

(Action #4.1 and #5.2) The quality of undergraduate STEM education is not what it needs to be.
Universities have the opportunity to share and adopt best practices, including teaching methods
that have been empirically validated. Undergraduate STEM majors should have the opportunity
to experience the creation of new knowledge through authentic research experiences.
Improvements in undergraduate STEM education will involve the engagement of leaders across
academia, disciplinary societies, foundations, and private industry, along with local, state, and
Federal governments. We endorse the recommendations of PCAST’s recent “Engage to Excel”
report.

(Action #4.2) We need to attract and retain, both for universities and industry, the world’s best
researchers and students from abroad. Federal policies must support these goals by, for example,
giving STEM graduates from accredited U.S. universities a fast-tracked, long-term visa, increasing
the number of H-1B visas, and/or allowing existing visas to cover an employee’s
spouse and children.

Share your comments and insights about the proposed weather commission. Comments may be submitted through November 30 at which time they will be categorized by sector and areas of focus.

Currently, Wakimoto is the director for the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), which is sponsored by NSF.
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