Exploring the Unknown - NASA's History Office

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OBSERVING THE EARTH FROM SPACE
aggressively implements that policy.
It would be truly unfortunate to see a repetition of the circumstances surrounding the
weather-satellite issue, wherein despite repeated signals from the Congress, the administration
continued to pursue a policy which had little, if any, support in either House of
Congress.
Mr. Chairman, I strongly support the concurrent resolution sponsored by the gentleman
from Texas (Mr. ANDREWS), both because selling weather satellites is a bad idea and
because we need to proceed quickly toward the resolution of the real issue of this
debate—namely, how to transfer, in a rational way, our land remote-sensing capabilities to
the private sector.
I urge my colleagues to support House Concurrent Resolution 168.
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Mr. McGRATH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
(Mr. McGRATH asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. McGRATH. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this resolution, but I do so with some
reservations. Right now I do not feel that the transfer to the private sector of the weather
satellites is in the national interest. However, I would like to withhold final judgment on
this issue until the RFP process currently being conducted by the Department of
Commerce is complete.
After the responses to the RFP are in, we will have a great deal more information
about whether or not to go forward with this transfer. We will have the factual basis for
determining whether the weather-satellite system is suitable for transfer to the private sector
or if, as I believe will be the case, they are not suitable.
Mr. Speaker, I have been following this issue very carefully for the past 2 1/2 years.
The civilian weather satellites are essential to the protection of public health and safety,
and they serve as a backup to the defense meteorological system. The weather satellites
are inherently governmental, as evidenced by the fact that over 95 percent of the market
for the data from these satellites is the U.S. Government. For these reasons, I do not think
it would be wise to transfer this system to the private sector.
In the Committee on Science and Technology, we held five hearings on the commercialization
of the land and weather satellites, and while the consensus was that the land
system should be commercialized, strong opposition to the transfer of the Metsat system
was expressed by a wide range of witnesses from both the public and private sectors.
Mr. Speaker, it is my hope that once the controversy of the Metsat transfer has been
removed from consideration, the Congress and the administration will be able to concentrate
on the commercialization of the land remote-sensing system which is more rationally
in the public interest.
Mr. Speaker. I yield 2 minutes for myself.
(Mrs. SMITH of Nebraska asked and was given permission to revise and extend her
remarks.)
Mrs. SMITH of Nebraska. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this legislation
expressing the sense of Congress with regard to weather satellites.
I am a cosponsor of this bill which puts Congress on record in opposition to the transfer
of ownership or management of the Nation’s weather satellites to the private sector at
this time.
In March of this year, the Department of Commerce proposed to commercialize civil
weather and land remote-sensing satellites. This proposal has had remarkably little support
especially with respect to weather satellites. It is no wonder. Over 99 percent of the
data generated by the weather satellites is in fact used by civil and military agencies of the