Senate Proceeding on Mar 30th, 2009 :: 2:44:57 to 3:02:10
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2:44:45 to 2:45:07( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: with that, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: i thank the senator from north dakota. i think we will soon see that the sphren alaska is not only moving but her vocabulary is working quite well, also. the chair recognizes the senator from alaska of the ms. murkowski: thank you, mr. president.

2:44:57 to 3:02:10( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Lisa Murkowski

2:45:08 to 2:45:29( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: i request permission to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. murkowski: thank you, mr. president. today i'm riding to talk about an issue that has -- today i'm rising to talk about an issue that has captivated my residents up in the state of alaska. we've got a mountain that is erupting. mount readout, which is located about 150 miles southwest of

2:45:30 to 2:45:50( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: anchorage, our largest community community, has been more than avenue in the past week or so and generating a great deal of press, a great deal of interest and a considerable amount of impact in my state. and so i wanted to take just a

2:45:51 to 2:46:12( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: few talk about what is happening up north. talk a little aboutity about the importance of volcano monitoring. i think we're all aware that there have been some recent comments made about federal spending for volcano monitoring and the suggestion that perhaps this might be wasteful

2:46:13 to 2:46:33( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: , that we don't have any need to be monitoring volcanos. and i c mr. president, that monitoring volcanos is critically important to the nation, to the world and particularly to -- to alaska right now, where, as he say, we are -- we are being held hostage by a

2:46:34 to 2:46:55( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: a littleit of a personal note here this afternoon, my boys' spring break concluded last evenin they've been up in the state enjoying spring skiing, and they're grounded by mount redoubt. they may be home wednesday evening. now, others might think that

2:46:56 to 2:47:16( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: this is a bad thing but for those young pages here this morning, when you're 17 and you're shut out of school for an additional three days after -- after spring break concludes and you have to stay in alaska and keep skiing, maybe the volcano is not a bad thing. but there's a very serious aspect to

2:47:17 to 2:47:37( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: about. mount redoubt has erupted 17 times now since march 22. and when it was initially under watch, you would see the -- kind of the steam and the haze coming off the volcano.

2:47:38 to 2:47:59( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: but then we started to see some pretty significant eruptions, eruptions that would go 65,000 feet up into the air. this is a picture of mount redoubt. this is actually taken back in 1989 the last time that mount redoubt was active. but what happens is these -- these plumes go straight up into

2:48:00 to 2:48:20( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: the air, get caught by the jet stream at 40,000 or 65,000 feet and then that ash is disbursed throughout -- throughout the ste. what we've been seeing up north this week -- and actually for about the past ten days -- is

2:48:21 to 2:48:42( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: cancellation of -- of air flights, complete closure of the anchorage international airport over the weekend. alaska airlines alone has canceled about 230 flights. it's affected about 10,000 passengers, including what -- what is happening as a

2:48:43 to 2:49:03( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: result of this volcano really does become quite personal. we've got in the southern part of the state where they've experienced the ash fallout where the students have -- have dust masks, respirator masks so that they're not breathing the ash that's coming through. home depot made a point of

2:49:04 to 2:49:25( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: staying open 24 hours a day so that people could get the -- the masks, tape to put around their windows, and their doors, because this ash, this particulate is so fine it gets into your home, it gunks up your computers, it clogs -- it clogs your car engines.

2:49:26 to 2:49:47( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: it's most -- most worrisome, most threatening, though, with -- with airplane the ash itself is -- is this particulate that is like groundup stone and has the -- the very debilitating effect of really messing up your engine. so what is happening is at the

2:49:48 to 2:50:09( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: airport, the engines of the airplanes, if they're not inside -- which we don't have the capacity for them -- are being wrapped in saran wrap. it's more sophisticated than saran wrap, but having to wrap them. our fort richardson are looking relocate their assets so that their -- these very fine

2:50:10 to 2:50:31( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: precision aircraft are not in harm's way. a lot happening as a result of -- of this volcano and the series of eruptions. the volcanos well over three-quarters of u.s. volcanos that have erupted in the last 200 years. about 50 volcanic eruptions occur around the world every year, and this is according to

2:50:32 to 2:50:52( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: usgs. it seems like a high number but most of them are not -- are not eruptions that make much in terms of the headlines. the united states ranks third behind indonesia and japan in its number of historically active vol da and that's why so it's very, very important to fund the

2:50:53 to 2:51:13( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: volcano monitoring, which in alaska is through the alaska observatory. the a.b.o., as we call it, is one of five volcano observatories in the u.s. it's a joint program the usgs, the united states geological survey, the geophysical institute of the university of alaska fairbanks and the state of alaska division of geological and geophysical surveys. the a.v.o. is unique in the u.s.

2:51:14 to 2:51:35( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: and probably in the world in that it collaborative undertaking of federal scientists, state scientists, university, faculty and students. a.v.o. was formed in 1988 after an eruption of mount augustine. it uses federal, state, and university resources to monitor

2:51:36 to 2:51:56( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: and study alaska's hazardous volcanos to that early warning and record eruptive activity and also mit gade volcanic hazards - mitigate volcanic hazards in life and property. alaska has over 30 active volcanos that are currently being monitored by the a.v.o. there's no other observatory in the world that even comes close

2:51:57 to 2:52:18( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: to that number. the a.v.o. also analyzes available satellite data twice daily for thermal anomalies and ash plumes at about in the north pacific. russian volcanos frequently put ash into areas where the u.s. has aviation safety responsibilities. alaska's active volcanos also

2:52:19 to 2:52:39( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: offer superb opportunities for basic scientific investigation of volcanic processes, a important component of a.v.o.'s program is to conduct research at selected volcanic centers. now, i mentioned, mr. president, traffic, and i think it's important for people to understand that when we're

2:52:40 to 2:53:00( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: talking about vol in the air and being distributed, it's not just something that is -- is dirty and an annoyance but it has the potential to be life threatening and absolutely deadly. if the -- if the jet engines ingest the volcanic ash, the

2:53:01 to 2:53:21( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: potential for -- for catastrophe is very real. back in 1989, it was december 15 of 1989, there was a boeing 747, it was flying about 150 miles northeast of it went through the ash that had erupted from redoubt volcano.

2:53:22 to 2:53:42( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: it was flying at night so it couldn't see that they were flying into an ash cloud. we didn't have them monitorin monitoring -- the monitoring process so the pilots are just flying on through, and it sucked in the ash at -- i'm not entirely certain what altitude

2:53:43 to 2:54:03( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: they were flying when they first encountered the ash -- but the plane, with 231 passengers aboard, lost more than 10,000 feet elevation, all four engines lost power, and they wen 10,000 feet. that's about two miles.

2:54:04 to 2:54:25( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: now, we do a lot of flying around here. next time you're up in that airplane, look down and think about losing all the power in your 747 and falling out othe sky almost two miles before these incredibly skilled pilots were able to restart the engines

2:54:26 to 2:54:48( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: engines, they were able to -- to land no lives lost. but i -- i can't imagine what it would have been like to have been a passenger on that -- on that jet aircraft. the airplane suffered about $80 million in damage. all four of those engines wer

2:54:49 to 2:55:09( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: were -- were shot and -- and, again, the good news out of the story is that there was -- was no loss of life. the f.a. estimates, based on information provided by the f.a., that more than 80,000 large aircraft per year and 30,000 people per day are in the skies over

2:55:10 to 2:55:32( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: downwind of many of alaska's volcanos, mostly on the heavily traveled great circle routes between europe, north america, and asia. it's the longest route that kind of coincidentally follows the northern portion of the pacific ring of fire. there's over a hundred volcanos capable of depositing ash into the flight plan. some are in japan, many in

2:55:33 to 2:55:53( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: russian shah, but about half of them -- russia, but about half of them are in alaska. and by analyzing image expri working with the national weather service to predict where the winds will rry the ash, a.v.o. assists the f.a. in warning aircraft of those areas to avoid 789. volcanic eruptns from inlet volcanos, these are right

2:55:54 to 2:56:14( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: in there around the south central, mounted spownt, mount redoubt and augustine, can have severe impacts as these volcanos are near toast anchorage, which, of course, is our large population center. back in 1989 when redoubt blew before,i was working in an office and essentially we were shut down because the

2:56:15 to 2:56:35( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: ventilation systems need to be turned off, the computers needed to be turned off and covered. it -- the impacts, economically and in all ways, are -- are very, very real. the last major series of eruptions of mount redoubt were in 1989 and 1990.

2:56:36 to 2:56:56( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: these eruptions, which totaled 23 -- so right now with redoubt, we're already up to 17. the 23 that took place in 1989 to place over a six-month period. we're seeing 17 eruptions over a period of about ten days. these eruptions affected the populous, commerce, the oil production throughout

2:56:57 to 2:57:17( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: cook inlet, and air traffic about as far away as the state of total estimated economic costs were about $160 million, this eruption of redoubt the second most costly in u.s. history and it has significant on the

2:57:18 to 2:57:39( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: industry. as i mention this volcanic ash is fine bits of abrasive glass that can damage lungs, it can damage vehicles, electronic equipments. right now as we speak in the area just outside of anchorage where i was a couple of weeks

2:57:40 to 2:58:01( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: ago, we are hosting the u.s. national ski championships. and we've got some of the country's finest athletes who are performing on that hill. they can't race if they are breathing in this particulate.

2:58:02 to 2:58:25( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: this eruption damaged five commercial jetliners back in 1989, causing several days airport closures and airport cancellations in anchorage, drifting ash clouds as far away as texas. monitoring is also a role of the federal government. it helped, very likely, saved many lives and significant money

2:58:26 to 2:58:47( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: in the case of the 1991 eruption in the philippines where the u.s. had mil time. the eruption back in 1991 lasted more than ten hours and a cloud of ash as high as 22 miles into the air that grew to more than 300 miles across. the u.s. spent less than $1.5 million monitoring the volcano

2:58:48 to 2:59:08( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: and warned of the impending eruption allowing authorities toker evacuate residents, aircraft and other aircrt. the efforts saves thousands and prevented property loss of at least $250 it is not enough, though, to justify a program by identifying a danger. the more important question is

2:59:09 to 2:59:31( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: whether something can be continue to reduce the impact of a volcanic eruption i terms of property damage and loss of life. that means getting people out of the harm's way by providing advance warning. that's exactly what the volcano hazards program seeks to do through the existing volume can observatories in the united states.

2:59:32 to 2:59:53( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: some say there is an abundance of caution going on by shutting down the airport and canceling flights and diverting flights. but as a mother whose sons are relying on air travel, i want to mayor sure we err on the side of caution and we are using scientists who will tell us when it is safe to be back up n.i.h.ing.

2:59:54 to 3:00:15( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: the advances mad in monitoring can provide more accurate and timely prediction of eruption. in 1989, avio only provide add few days' morning before redoubt erupted and this year they detected activit and notified the public a couple months before iter ruchted.

3:00:16 to 3:00:36( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: the big -- before it erupted but the biggest challenge is finding funding. the volcano hazards program has been constantly underfunded. the f.a. provides funding but it is not enough to an, spooks unfortunate -- an expansion of the system. it is because of the inadequate funding and critical respose of

3:00:37 to 3:00:59( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: this program that i intend to introduce a bill to provide funding stability that volcano monitoring needs. this shows with a modest investment a very large benefit can be produced in reducing the impacts of catastrophic events. my legislation will establish a national volcano early warnings

3:01:00 to 3:01:21( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: and monitoring system within the geological survey to protect citizens from harm from come vane activity. the usgs will coordinate a management plan with other relevant departments including the department of transportation, f.a., the national ocean antic a atmospheric administration, department of homeland security, and the federal emergency management agency.

3:01:22 to 3:01:43( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: the legislation authorizes appropriations annually to the department of interior to carry out the act. mr. president, i appreciate the attention that you have given me on this issue here this afternoon. as i mentioned, all eyes are upon the state of alaska right now as we watch this volcano. but this is not the only one

3:01:44 to 3:02:06( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: that we are actively monday tring and watching -- monitoring and watching. we want to mack sur residents of the state of alaska are provided a level of safety through monitoring but those who may be in danger because of mother nature doing

3:02:07 to 3:02:12( Edit History Discussion )

Lisa Murkowski: what mother nature ds on a very