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- 7 - She takes over the duties of assistant secretary from Mark Limbaugh, who left for the private sector. Onley has been Assistant Deputy Secretary of the Interior since January 2006, serving as the principal advisor to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary on environmental policy issues. Before coming to the Interior Department, Onley served as the Associate Director for Environmental Policy at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Onley currently serves as the Chair of the South Florida Restoration Task Force, Co-Chair of the U. S. Coral Reef Task Force, and the principal DOl member of the Interagency Committee on Ocean Science and Resource Management Integration. She has lead responsibility at Interior in the President's recent creation of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in Hawaii. At the President's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), she advised the CEQ Chairman, the White House and members of the Executive Office of the President on environmental policy issues, paIiicularly those involving ocean, coastal, and fisheries policies. Most notably she was responsible for leading the interagency ocean policy group in the development of the President's "u.s. Ocean Action Plan." Onley formerly served as the associate director for the Regulatory Studies Program at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Arlington, Va. In the past Onley worked as an economic research assistant at the Texas Institute for Applied Environmental Research at Tarleton State University on water issues associated with the dairy industry. Born and raised in Seattle, Wash., she received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Seattle University in Economics with a minor in Biology and a Master of Science degree in Agricultural Economics from Clemson University. WEATHER MODIFICATION RESEARCH PROGRAM BILLS INTRODUCED: CWCB staff member Joe Busto is the newly elected Chair of the North American Interstate Weather Modification Council (NAIWMC) and is leading a nine state effort to develop a "coordinated national weather modification research program." This was the principal recommendation of the National Academy of Sciences 2003 Report entitled "Critical Issues in Weather Modification Research." An important distinction is that the NAIWMC members represent their nine western states and are the regulators. Therefore we are not principally weather modification contractors or researchers and consider ourselves in the middle. NAIWMC members have worked intimately with Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison to introduce S. 1807 into Congress in July 2007. Shortly thereafter Congressman Udall introduced HR 3445 into Congress just before it went into recess for the month of August. The Udall bill is the same from last year that is principally a place marker and Udall's staff because of timing did not have a chance to consider NAIWMC input. The NAIWMC hopes that Udall will introduce a manager's amendment and incorporate some of the input from the NAIWMC. The key differences are that S. 1807 has the National Science Foundation as the lead and HR 3445 has NOAA as the lead agency. In addition to needing to merge these bills in a conference committee there is still the issue of the Office of Science and Technology, Office of Flood Protection. Water Project Planning and Finance. Sn-eam and Lake Protection Water Supply Protection. Conservation Planning