House Bill Would Make NOAA a Standalone Agency like NASA, NSF

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, could become its own agency on par with NASA, the National Science Foundation, Environmental Protection Agency, and the US Postal Service under a new bill proposed on June 9 by House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK).

H.R. 3980, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Act of 2023, would make the agency a part of the Executive Branch, and remove NOAA from its current position within the Department of Commerce. The bill also ensures the Office of Space Commerce’s existence within the Department of Commerce.

“After years of complex organizational challenges, it’s time for NOAA to become an independent agency and reach its full potential,” Lucas said in a press release. “The NOAA Organic Act not only gives NOAA formal statutory authority and authorizes its critical mission, but reduces bureaucratic inefficiencies, streamlines oversight efforts, and refocuses core mission areas. This will strengthen NOAA’s important role of protecting people and property through its vital weather forecasts, severe weather monitoring, and communication efforts.”

NOAA, created in 1970 by executive order of Richard Nixon, is a scientific and regulatory agency within the Department of Commerce. The agency’s charge includes monitoring the atmosphere and oceans, forecasting weather — including the interactions between the Sun and Earth’s atmosphere known as space weather — charting the seas, and conducting deep sea exploration. The National Weather Service is a department within NOAA, though it long predates Nixon’s executive order.

Part of the motivation for the bill, a Committee on Space, Science, and Technology aide told SpaceRef, was to formalize and streamline the NOAA’s role within the structure of the federal government.

“It’s been over 50 years since NOAA was created by executive order, with Congress never formally authorizing its existence,” the aide told SpaceRef. “Because of this, NOAA now exists through a patchwork of roughly 200 statutes that have resulted in complex organizational challenges and, at times, an ill-defined mission.”

“NOAA has significantly grown over the past several years, both in budget and responsibilities, with its work supporting more than one-third of our economy,” the aide continued. “NOAA’s mission and its important role in research and development warrant a placement outside of the Department of Commerce to a level that reflects the importance of its work.”

During the April hearing during which the bill was proposed, former acting NOAA administrator spoke in favor of the redesignation, describing his concerns over past conflicts within the Department of Commerce — including reallocation of funds from NOAA to the Census Bureau. He said the decision forced NOAA to delay critical upgrades to environmental satellites and other major projects, including cooperative institutes at universities and the next-generation GeoXO satellites. Short for Geostationary Extended Observations, the proposed GeoXO satellites will extend the mission of the NOAA’s weather-monitoring GOES-R satellites by watching over the Western Hemisphere of Earth from geostationary orbit. The satellite system will provide short-term forecasts and warnings of extreme weather and environmental hazards, as well as useful data for long-term planning for the effects of the climate crisis.

Gallaudet complained during the hearing that approvals within the Department of Commerce slowed working with other agencies and the private sector. Another former NOAA administrator, Conrad C. Lautenbacher Jr., a George W. Bush appointee, also testified to complain about how bureaucracy within the Department of Commerce slowed the decision-making process for NOAA.

Thirteen Republican representatives (and no Democrats) co-sponsored the bill, which has yet to progress through the House. Lawmakers will send a final bill through a Science Committee markup. If it survives this step, the bill makes its way to the House floor for discussion and a vote. If passed by the House, the bill heads to the Senate for approval and then to the desk of the President.