File:US Public Law 95-367.png

Remembering the 'start-up' of the environmental movement

A foundation of laws, an environmental platform of originating legal protections and precedents, including the first federal climate program, Public Law 95-368, the National Climate Program Act.

SJS/GreenPolicy360 Siterunner: Representative George E. Brown (D), out of East Los Angeles, California and GreenPolicy360 siterunner's friend and mentor for over three decades, was a first-generation green activist in his own way, an environmental visionary and engineer by trade. He believed in 'big science', in the need for advanced study and knowledge, then doing what needed to be done. His record of accomplishments in Congress over decades of leadership is unprecedented. George's purposeful work put in place a foundation on which we are building.

Congressman Brown / U.S. Science, Technology, and Space Committee --- Out in Front on Climate Action

Rep. George E. Brown proposed the first U.S. national climate change study, drafted the legislation and shepherded its passage in 1978.

National Climate Program Act, 1978 / PDF

The first federal program is established to initiate and coordinate federal studies; scientifically assess issues and risks of human-caused climate change, propose action and responses.

At the Beginning of U.S. Science on Global Warming, Strategies & Planning

Energy and Climate Report, 1977, National Academy of Sciences / 175 pp. / PDF via GreenPolicy360

1978, the First Climate Act

Congressman Brown, the drafting and passage in 1977 of the First U.S. Federal Climate Report

National Climate Program Act, Public Law 95-367

National Climate Program Act of September 1978

In 1979 came a first follow-on National Science Academy report that was prescient, and accurate, in its global warming predictions.

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National Climate Program Act

An Act to establish a comprehensive and coordinated national climate policy and program, and for other purposes

95th Congress (1977-1978)

Authored by Rep. George E. Brown

East Los Angeles

National Climate Program Act - 1978

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• http://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/George_E._Brown_Jr

• http://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Environmental_movement

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92 Stat. 601 - National Climate Program Act

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Category

Bills and Statutes Collection

United States Statutes at Large

SuDoc Class Number

Publisher (Office of the Federal Register)

U.S. Government Printing Office Congress

95th Congress, 2nd Session, 1978

Dates in Session - Begun on Thursday, January 19, 1978 adjourned sine die on Sunday, October 15, 1978

Volume Volume 92

Citation - 92 Stat. 601

Pages - Statutes at Large document. 601 - 605

Law Number Public Law 95-367

Date Approved - September 17, 1978

National Climate Act

Associated Bill Number - H.R. 2808 - H.R. 6669

Summary of Act / Congressional Research Service

National Climate Program Act:

Directs the President to establish a National Climate Program to develop and operate a comprehensive climate research, monitoring, analysis, and data management program, improve the reliability of predictive capability and the dissemination of climatological information and alerts, and develop a global climate monitoring system.

Requires the Director of the Program to establish Program policies, priorities, and Federal agency involvement. Directs the Director to establish a National Climate Program Interagency Advisory Committee to assist in such duties.

Authorizes the Director to establish other advisory committees to assist in carrying out this Act.

Directs the Secretary of Commerce to establish within the Department of Commerce a National Climate Program Office to administer the program.

Authorizes the Secretary to make annual grants to the States for State climate programs. Requires the State Climate Programs to provide the National Climate Program with specified climate-related information.

Requires the Director and the Secretary to cooperate with the Secretary of State in participating in climate-related international conferences and in coordinating the activities of the Program with climate programs of other nations.

Authorizes appropriations of the Program with climate programs of other nations.

Authorizes appropriations for fiscal years 1978, 1979, and 1980 to carry out the purposes of this Act.

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References

The National Climate Program Act (Public Law 367 of the Ninety-Fifth Congress), called for the establishment of the National Climate Program (NCP), as well as the Climate Program Advisory Committee and the Climate Program Policy Board.

These entities are to issue periodic reports and plans to "assist the Nation and the world to understand and respond to natural and human-induced climate processes and their implications. (Dessler, 2006)" The act required the secretary of commerce to establish a National Climate Program Office that would coordinate efforts and develop a series of research and climate services, drawing together the strengths of NOAA and other governmental agencies. These responsibilities were delegated to NOAA. The Department of the Interior and its U.S. Geological Survey are among the other agencies assigned specific roles under the NCP.

The NOAA Climate Program conducts research and monitoring related to climate, climate change, and climate impact. It gathers and manages data from surface, marine, upper-air, and satellite observations; issues monthly and seasonal predictions of temperature, precipitation, and other weather indicators; predicts the impact of climate fluctuations on water resources, including fisheries, crop irrigation, and energy demands; and conducts new research.

Five divisions of NOAA contribute to these efforts: the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service; the National Marine Fisheries Service; the National Ocean Service; the National Weather Service; and the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research.

Several climate projects under NOAA have yielded important results. Under the direction of the NOAA administration, the United States is part of the Group on Earth Observations, an international organization developing the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), which will collect and manage data around the world. NCP awards grants and fellowships for outside research on the Arctic, on atmospheric composition and climate, on the global climate cycle, and other topics. It also operates the Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments program, a partnership with American universities to connect with local and regional researchers and policy makers. The Climate Program Office operates separate divisions for climate observations, research, climate assessments and services, planning, and communications and education.

By 1984, pilot programs and new structures, including a strongly linked network of regional monitoring centers, enabled the NCP to produce and disseminate useful climate data (Gerrard, 2007). These data were essential in the growing national and international understanding of the causes and the effects of global warming.

As policy makers became more interested in global warming, they were unable to make use of much of the pure science that NCP was conducting, and they pressed for more information in forms that would help them draft policy. In response, in 1990 Congress created the United States Global Change Research Program to increase understanding of and response to global warming through research presented by NCP.

1. Dessler, Andrew Emory, and Edward Parson. The Science and Politics of Global Climate Change: A Guide to the Debate. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006.

2. Gerrard, Michael. Global Climate Change and U.S. Law. Washington, D.C.: American Bar Association, 2007.

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National Climate Program Memorandum From the President

October 31, 1978

Jimmy Carter / Memorandum for the Heads of Departments and Agencies

I have just signed into law the National Climate Program Act (P.L. 95-367). I am pleased to commit the Nation to this Program of improving our understanding of climatic changes, both natural and man-induced...

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National Climate Program Act

Committee on Science and Technology, Washington, DC

House of Representatives, Ninety-Fifth Congress, First Session, Report No. 95-266, May 6, 1977

The purpose of the bill is to establish a national climate program which will enable the nation to respond more effectively to climate-induced problems by improving climate monitoring in order to make the government and private sector aware of fluctuations and anomalies in climate, by augmenting basic and applied research, by improving services relating to climate, and by identifying domestic and international impacts of changes and fluctuations in climate. Other contents of the report are committee actions and recommendations; committee views; oversight findings and recommendations;congressional budget act information; cost and budget data; effect of legislation on inflation; and agency comments. (HLW)

Publication Date: 1977-01-01

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National Climate Program Act: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space of the Committee

• https://www.amazon.com/National-climate-program-act-Subcommittee/dp/B003XW066A

• https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/95/hr6669

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Energy and Climate Report, 1977, National Academy of Sciences / 175 pp. / PDF

Via the American Meteorological Society / The Myth of 1970s Global Cooling

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In 1979 first follow-on National Science Academy report that was prescient, and accurate, in its global warming predictions.

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Ten Years After the National Climate Report and Program Act

A decade passes, then headlines: James Hansen's Warning to Congress in 1988

Ten years after the National Climate Program Act was drafted by Representative Brown and the legislation's passage led by the Congressman began the federal government's action to address climate change, its impacts and risks.

The science community and environmental/green movement calls Congress to attention.

http://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Hansen-testimony-1988.jpg

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