§ 2904. — National Climate Program.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 15USC2904]
TITLE 15--COMMERCE AND TRADE
CHAPTER 56--NATIONAL CLIMATE PROGRAM
Sec. 2904. National Climate Program
(a) Establishment
The President shall establish a National Climate Program in
accordance with the provisions, findings and purposes of this chapter.
(b) Duties
The President shall--
(1) promulgate the 5-year plans described in subsection (d)(9)
of this section;
(2) define the roles in the Program of Federal officers,
departments, and agencies, including the Departments of Agriculture,
Commerce, Defense, Energy, Interior, State, and Transportation; the
Environmental Protection Agency; the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration; the Council on Environmental Quality; the National
Science Foundation; and the Office of Science and Technology Policy;
and
(3) provide for Program coordination.
(c) National Climate Program Office
(1) The Secretary shall establish within the Department of Commerce
a National Climate Program Office not later than 30 days after September
17, 1978.
(2) The Office shall--
(A) serve as the lead entity responsible for administering the
program;
(B) be headed by a Director who shall represent the Climate
Program Policy Board and shall be spokesperson for the program;
(C) serve as the staff for the Board and its supporting
committees and working groups;
(D) review each agency budget request transmitted under
subsection (g)(1) of this section and submit an analysis of the
requests to the Board for its review;
(E) be responsible for coordinating interagency participation in
international climate-related activities; and
(F) work with the National Academy of Sciences and other
private, academic, State, and local groups in preparing and
implementing the 5-year plan (described in subsection (d)(9) of this
section) and the program.
The analysis described in subparagraph (D) shall include an analysis of
how each agency's budget request relates to the priorities and goals of
the program established pursuant to this chapter.
(3) The Secretary may provide, through the Office, financial
assistance, in the form of contracts or grants or cooperative
agreements, for climate-related activities which are needed to meet the
goals and priorities of the program set forth in the 5-year plan
pursuant to subsection (d)(9) of this section, if such goals and
priorities are not being adequately addressed by any Federal department,
agency, or instrumentality.
(4) Each Federal officer, employee, department and agency involved
in the Program shall cooperate with the Secretary in carrying out the
provisions of this chapter.
(d) Program elements
The Program shall include, but not be limited to, the following
elements:
(1) assessments of the effect of climate on the natural
environment, agricultural production, energy supply and demand, land
and water resources, transportation, human health and national
security. Such assessments shall be conducted to the maximum extent
possible by those Federal agencies having national programs in food,
fiber, raw materials, energy, transportation, land and water
management, and other such responsibilities, in accordance with
existing laws and regulations. Where appropriate such assessments
may include recommendations for action;
(2) basic and applied research to improve the understanding of
climate processes, natural and man induced, and the social,
economic, and political implications of climate change;
(3) methods for improving climate forecasts on a monthly,
seasonal, yearly, and longer basis;
(4) global data collection, and monitoring and analysis
activities to provide reliable, useful and readily available
information on a continuing basis;
(5) systems for the management and active dissemination of
climatological data, information and assessments, including
mechanisms for consultation with current and potential users;
(6) measures for increasing international cooperation in climate
research, monitoring, analysis and data dissemination;
(7) mechanisms for intergovernmental climate-related studies and
services including participation by universities, the private sector
and others concerned with applied research and advisory services.
Such mechanisms may provide, among others, for the following State
and regional services and functions: (A) studies relating to and
analyses of climatic effects on agricultural production, water
resources, energy needs, and other critical sectors of the economy;
(B) atmospheric data collection and monitoring on a statewide and
regional basis; (C) advice to regional, State, and local government
agencies regarding climate-related issues; (D) information to users
within the State regarding climate and climatic effects; and (E)
information to the Secretary regarding the needs of persons within
the States for climate-related services, information, and data. The
Secretary may make annual grants to any State or group of States,
which grants shall be made available to public or private
educational institutions, to State agencies, and to other persons or
institutions qualified to conduct climate-related studies or provide
climate-related services;
(8) experimental climate forecast centers, which shall (A) be
responsible for making and routinely updating experimental climate
forecasts of a monthly, seasonal, annual, and longer nature, based
on a variety of experimental techniques; (B) establish procedures to
have forecasts reviewed and their accuracy evaluated; and (C)
protect against premature reliance on such experimental forecasts;
and
(9) a preliminary 5-year plan, to be submitted to the Congress
for review and comment, not later than 180 days after September 17,
1978, and a final 5-year plan to be submitted to the Congress not
later than 1 year after September 17, 1978, that shall be revised
and extended at least once every four years. Each plan shall
establish the goals and priorities for the Program, including the
intergovernmental program described in paragraph (7), over the
subsequent 5-year period, and shall contain details regarding (A)
the role of Federal agencies in the programs, (B) Federal funding
required to enable the Program to achieve such goals, and (C)
Program accomplishments that must be achieved to ensure that Program
goals are met within the time frame established by the plan.
(e) Climate Program Policy Board
(1) The Secretary shall establish and maintain an interagency
Climate Program Policy Board, consisting of representatives of the
Federal agencies specified in subsection (b)(2) of this section and any
other agency which the Secretary determines should participate in the
Program.
(2) The Board shall--
(A) be responsible for coordinated planning and progress review
for the Program;
(B) review all agency and department budget requests related to
climate transmitted under subsection (g)(1) of this section and
submit a report to the Office of Management and Budget concerning
such budget requests;
(C) establish and maintain such interagency groups as the Board
determines to be necessary to carry out its activities; and
(D) consult with and seek the advice of users and producers of
climate data, information, and services to guide the Board's
efforts, keeping the Director and the Congress advised of such
contacts.
(3) The Board biennially shall select a Chair from among its
members. A Board member who is a representative of an agency may not
serve as Chair of the Board for a term if an individual who represented
that same agency on the Board served as the Board's Chair for the
previous term.
(f) Cooperation
(1) The Program shall be conducted so as to encourage cooperation
with, and participation in the Program by, other organizations or
agencies involved in related activities. For this purpose the Secretary
shall cooperate and participate with other Federal agencies, and
foreign, international, and domestic organizations and agencies involved
in international or domestic climate-related programs.
(2) The Secretary and the Secretary of State shall cooperate with
the Office in (A) providing representation at climate-related
international meetings and conferences in which the United States
participates, and (B) coordinating the activities of the Program with
the climate programs of other nations and international agencies and
organizations, including the World Meteorological Organization, the
International Council of Scientific Unions, the United Nations
Environmental Program, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and
Cultural Organization, the World Health Organization, and Food and
Agriculture Organization.
(g) Budgeting
Each Federal agency and department participating in the Program,
shall prepare and submit to the Office of Management and Budget, on or
before the date of submission of departmental requests for
appropriations to the Office of Management and Budget, an annual request
for appropriations for the Program for the subsequent fiscal year and
shall transmit a copy of such request to the National Climate Program
Office. The Office of Management and Budget shall review the request for
appropriations as an integrated, coherent, multiagency request.
(Pub. L. 95-367, Sec. 5(a)-(g)(1), Sept. 17, 1978, 92 Stat. 601-603;
Pub. L. 99-272, title VI, Sec. 6084(b)-(f), Apr. 7, 1986, 100 Stat. 136,
137.)
Codification
Subsec. (g) of this section in the original was par. (1) of section
5(g) of Pub. L. 95-367 and has been set out without such par. (1)
designation for purposes of codification. For classification of par. (2)
of section 5(g) to the Code, see Tables.
Amendments
1986--Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 99-272, Sec. 6084(b), designated first
sentence as par. (1), substituted pars. (2) and (3) for second sentence
which provided that ``The Office shall be the lead entity responsible
for administering the Program``, and designated third sentence as par.
(4).
Subsec. (d)(7). Pub. L. 99-272, Sec. 6084(c)(1), inserted provision
that such mechanisms may provide, among others, for certain enumerated
State and regional services and functions.
Subsec. (d)(9). Pub. L. 99-272, Sec. 6084(c)(2), (3), substituted
``at least once every four years'' for ``biennially'' and ``described in
paragraph (7)'' for ``under section 2905 of this title''.
Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 99-272, Sec. 6084(d), substituted provisions
relating to the establishment and maintenance of the Climate Program
Policy Board for provisions relating to the establishment and
maintenance of an advisory committee and interagency groups.
Subsec. (f)(2). Pub. L. 99-272, Sec. 6084(e), substituted ``shall
cooperate with the Office in'' for ``shall cooperate in''.
Subsec. (g). Pub. L. 99-272, Sec. 6084(f), inserted provision
requiring each Federal agency and department participating in the
Program to transmit a copy of such request to the National Climate
Program Office.
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in section 2906 of this title; title 31
section 1105.
