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EXHIBIT J <br /> WWC-Vail/Beaver Creek <br /> Record of Decision <br /> Vail Public Library-Public Hearing <br /> September 21 2010 <br /> North American Interstate Weather Modification Council <br /> Response to <br /> Critical Issues in Weather Modification Research <br /> A Report by the National Research Council <br /> Approved by the NAIWMC on April 28,2004 <br /> The October 2003 publication by the National Research Council(NRC)entitled Critical <br /> Issues in Weather Modification Research was the first review of weather modification research <br /> and operations by the NRC in thirty years. Since that time a number of federally funded research <br /> activities were accomplished through programs administered by the U.S.Bureau of Reclamation <br /> (USBR)and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA),though progress <br /> was limited because funding was sporadic. In recent years,however,while operational cloud <br /> seeding programs have expanded at a rapid rate,research, specifically federally funded research, <br /> has lagged. Most recently,operational spending for cloud seeding operations by states,counties, <br /> municipalities,and private organizations has exceeded federal research funding by a 20 to 1 ratio. <br /> The North American Interstate Weather Modification Council(NAIWMC),an <br /> organization of state weather modification regulatory entities,program sponsors,and research <br /> institutions,has for years supported the concept of federal research funding in conjunction with <br /> operational seeding programs. It is for this reason that the NAIWMC concurs with the NRC <br /> recommendation for a"coordinated national program...to conduct a sustained research effort <br /> in the areas of cloud and precipitation microphysics, cloud dynamics, cloud modeling, and <br /> cloud seeding...". While previous research yielded significant progress in a number of areas, <br /> including cloud physics,numerical modeling and seeding agent development to name a few, <br /> uncertainties still remain in the physical understanding of weather modification. Substantive <br /> advances in meteorological instrumentation and numerical modeling have put the scientific <br /> community in the best position yet to increase our understanding,demonstrate the efficacy,and <br /> advance the capability of weather modification. The NRC report accurately describes the <br /> resources now available to help achieve these objectives. <br /> Though we agree with the NRC in calling for additional research,we take issue with the <br /> NRC's conclusions in two key areas. First,in its Conclusions and Recommendations,the NRC <br /> repeats a statement made in the first NRC report in 1964: "We(NRC) conclude that the initiation <br /> of large-scale operational weather modification programs would be premature. Many <br />