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I I Senate/House Commerce Committees February 21, 2007 Page 2 I wildlife also depend on flows rising and falling with the seasons. Clean renewable hydropower is another important benefit. Vital snowpack and water supply information is currently gathered and disseminated through USDA's National Water and Climate Center in the Natural Resources Conservation Service. I I The great rivers of the West, the Arkansas, Colorado, Columbia, Missouri, Platte, Rio Grande, Sacramento-San Joaquin, Snake and even the mighty Mississippi are sustained by western snowfall. The prospect of global warming and increasing climatic variability threatens to reduce and/or temporarily redistribute snowfall, snow packs and spring snowmelt runoff -- potentially rendering our existing water supply infrastructure inadequate and obsolete. Moreover, the federal government's ability to fulfill its river- related interstate, tribal and international treaty obligations could be threatened. Weather modification is one adaptive strategy. 'I I The American Meteorological Society (1998), World Meteorological Organization (2001), and the National Academy of Sciences (2003) have all found that there is strong physical and statistical evidence that wintertime weather modification activities can increase snowpacks, yielding more water. The Weather Modification Association and the North American Interstate Weather Modification Council also support a "coordinated national program" to further the science, understanding, and utility of weather modification. California, Kansas, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Wyoming are all members of the latter, working together to facilitate the exchange of interstate atmospheric resource management information. I Western states and the nation would benefit greatly from a coordinated federal program that advances the field of weather modification as it relates to precipitation enhancement for water supply management and storm damage reduction through hail suppression. It has been over a year since the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) raised concerns related to the potential legal and political ramifications, international and national security implications, and research priorities related to any new federal weather modification program. OSTP should expeditiously complete their current review to determine which factors are significant, and what might be done to obviate or mitigate any negative repercussions. I I I I However, given the urgent need to move forward in addressing our future water supply needs in the West, and the potential national contributions from weather modification for precipitation management and snowpack enhancement, it is imperative that there be a comprehensive, cooperative and coordinated national program associated with this tried and increasingly tested technology. Sincerely, I I ~A~ I I Duane A. Smith Chairman I I I