Senator Zeus: Kay Bailey Hutchison Earmarking Your Taxes For Her Odd Fixation on Controlling Hurricanes

by Capitol Confidential

Christians believe God can calm the seas, and Greeks believed Zeus controlled the weather and showered down thunder and lightning in anger. Apparently, now Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas seems to think she too can control the winds and the rains by earmarking over a hundred million of your tax dollars to dubious research at universities in her state, even though the idea was long abandoned by government scientists.

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Senator Hutchison, recently named “Porker of the Month”, says she wants to earmark $125 million during this recession to, in her words, force “Mother Nature” to “alter her course.” As Al Gore and President Obama have failed in their quest to control the oceans, Senator Hutchison thinks she can finally get Mother Nature to listen to politicians. Good luck!

 
Unfortunately for taxpayers, Senator Hutchison has refused to listen to our nation’s top scientists on this issue. As reported by the Washington Post, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has officially rebuffed this idea. In a letter, NOAA bluntly explained that the government ended this futile research years ago and there is nothing new to indicate it will ever be successful:
 
NOAA does not support research that entails efforts to modify hurricanes. NOAA, and its predecessor agency, once supported and conducted research into hurricane modification through Project STORMFURY from 1962 to 1983. Project STORMFURY was discontinued as the result of:
 
1) inconclusive scientific results, and
2) the inability to separate the difference between what happens when a hurricane is modified by human intervention versus a hurricane’s natural behavior.
 
Since Project STORMFURY’s end 26 years ago, NOAA scientists have gained substantial insight on the complicated and interconnected processes within the overall hurricane environment. Yet, it remains unclear if enough knowledge has been gained to make any new modification attempts practicable.

And fellow Texan, former President George W. Bush, tried to stop Senator Hutchison years ago. His White House sent her a letter in 2005 when she first began pushing this idea of controlling the weather stating “liability, foreign policy, and national security concerns.” President Bush’s administration pointed out that even if Hutchison was successful in diverting the path of a hurricane, its just as likely the U.S. could face international rebuke for sending hurricanes to Mexico or face lawsuits from Indian Tribes in neighboring states that could be hurt:
 
Because small scale weather modification (e.g., cloud seeding) may promote rain in one area to the detriment of another, weather modification could result in inter-state (including Indian Tribes) litigation or private citizen litigation against the modification programs… Small and large scale (e.g., hurricane) weather modification efforts could benefit the United States to the detriment of other countries (such as Canada or Mexico).
 
While Americans are outraged at reckless Washington spending that has led to a $12 trillion debt and economy with nearly 10% unemployment, you may be wondering why Senator Hutchison believes now is the time to waste millions of dollars of your money on such a wacky idea. The answer is likely that tax dollars will find their way to weather modification projects in Texas. But even Texas universities are warning that weather modification efforts are “not very promising.”


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Posted Oct 22nd 2009 at 12:35 pm in Congress, Earmarks, Politics, State Politics | 71 Comments