{"id":1938,"date":"2013-02-27T09:56:31","date_gmt":"2013-02-27T14:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/?p=1938"},"modified":"2013-02-27T09:56:31","modified_gmt":"2013-02-27T14:56:31","slug":"gao-adds-climate-change-and-weather-prediction-satellites-to-high-risk-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2013\/02\/27\/gao-adds-climate-change-and-weather-prediction-satellites-to-high-risk-list\/","title":{"rendered":"GAO Adds Climate Change and Weather Prediction Satellites to High Risk List"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p>by Anne Siders<\/p>\n<p>On February 14, for the first time ever, climate change was added to the Government Accountability Office (GAO)\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/highrisk#t=1\">High Risk List.<\/a>\u201d\u00a0 The GAO risk review is conducted every two years at the start of a new Congress and lists government operations deemed to be at high risk for fraud, waste, abuse, or mismanagement. \u00a0The latest GAO list features two new risk areas:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Limiting the Federal Government\u2019s Fiscal Exposure by Better Managing Climate Change Risks; <\/em><em>and<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Mitigating Gaps in Weather Satellite Data<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Climate Change:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The 2013 High Risk List is the first to acknowledge the threat posed to federal installations by climate change.\u00a0 The GAO notes that the federal government is exposed to \u201c<strong>significant financial risks<\/strong>\u201d from climate change on several levels: (1) as a property owner of extensive infrastructure, including defense installations, (2) as an insurer through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), and (3) as a provider of emergency aid in response to natural disasters.<\/p>\n<p>The GAO report is important for its explicit recognition of the costs of inaction: \u201cWhile implementing adaptive measures may be costly, there is a growing recognition that the <strong>cost of inaction could be greater<\/strong> and\u2014given the government\u2019s precarious fiscal position\u2014<strong>increasingly difficult to manage<\/strong> given expected budget pressures which will constrain not just future ad hoc responses but other federal programs as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>NFIP receives special mention for its potential to create substantial losses of taxpayer money due to the increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events.\u00a0 The GAO states explicitly that the NFIP is \u201cbased on conditions, priorities, and approaches that were established decades ago and are not well suited to addressing emerging issues like climate change.\u201d\u00a0 NFIP has been on GAO\u2019s High Risk List since 2006 due to concerns about its long-term financial solvency and operations.\u00a0 According to the GAO, the NFIP \u201cprogram was, by design, <strong>not actuarially sound<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 It recommends that climate-related factors such as sea level rise and long-term erosion be considered when updating flood maps.<\/p>\n<p>The report is critical of existing government efforts to address climate change.\u00a0 It concludes that \u201cThe federal government is not well positioned to address the fiscal exposure presented by climate change, and needs a government wide strategic approach with strong leadership to manage related risks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In particular, the GAO notes that its previous recommendations for the federal government to address climate change, made in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/products\/GAO-10-113\">2009<\/a>\u00a0 and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/products\/GAO-11-317\">2011<\/a>, have not yet been implemented, and that existing government efforts are \u201cad hoc\u201d and \u201cnot well coordinated across federal agencies, let along with state and local governments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Watch the GAO video on climate change risk <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/multimedia\/video\/#video_id=652143\">here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><strong>Weather Satellites<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n<p>A gap between the time existing U.S. polar satellites wear out and new satellites can be launched would reduce the accuracy of future weather predictions and the timeliness of storm warnings \u2013 \u201cincluding warnings of extreme events such as hurricanes, storm surges, and floods.\u201d\u00a0 This gap could begin in 2014 and last as long as 53 months.\u00a0 According to the GAO, \u201cSuch degradation in forecasts and warnings would <strong>place lives, property, and our nation\u2019s critical infrastructures in danger<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It is still possible that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Department of Defense (DOD) satellite acquisition programs will resolve this gap.\u00a0 However, the GAO states that \u201c these programs have <strong>troubled legacies<\/strong> of cost increases, missed milestones, technical problems, and management challenges that have resulted in reduced functionality and slips to planned launch dates.\u201d\u00a0 The GAO has therefore concluded that the risk of a gap and subsequent exposure to natural disasters is a high risk scenario.<\/p>\n<p>Watch the GAO video on weather satellites <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/multimedia\/video\/#video_id=652124\">here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Anne Siders On February 14, for the first time ever, climate change was added to the Government Accountability Office (GAO)\u2019s \u201cHigh Risk List.\u201d\u00a0 The GAO risk review is conducted every two years at the start of a new Congress and lists government operations deemed to be at high risk for fraud, waste, abuse, or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":838,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1938","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"czr-hentry"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>GAO Adds Climate Change and Weather Prediction Satellites to High Risk List  - Climate Law Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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