Urgent ANSS Opportunity

COSMOS Benefits the Strong-Motion Community and Promotes Earthquake Safety in 3 Ways:
  • COSMOS rallies the community to provide advocacy on important issues;
  • COSMOS provides a forum for developing consensus and standardization regarding important strong-motion data issues;
  • COSMOS facilitates and supports important services to the strong-motion community, such as the design and support of the Strong- Motion Virtual Data Center and the newly developed web-enabled system for archiving and dissemination of geotechnical data.

The ANSS Appropriation for FY 2005:

In 2003, COSMOS alerted the community to the proposed 50 percent reduction in the budget of the US Geological Survey's Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS) proposed for FY 2004. The resulting input to policy makers is regarded as having been influential in the restoration of ANSS funding from the proposed $2.0 M to $4.4 M for FY 2004.

Now, the appropriation of $4.4 M is currently being considered in the House of Representatives Interior Appropriations Subcommittee for 2005. This amount is not adequate to sustain the future of ANSS, which was authorized by Public Law 106-503, Section 13, to reach a total appropriation level of $170 M by FY 2005 through appropriations of $34 M per year. Representatives Nick Smith (R-MI) and Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) of the House Research Subcommittee have written to their colleagues in the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee recommending that the FY 2005 ANSS appropriation be raised to $10M in order to more appropriately fund the program. COSMOS should support this effort as a beginning towards achieving the original appropriation! Smith and Lofgren wish to add other House cosigners their letter. Last year they made a similar recommendation with 17 of their colleagues cosigning (Smith/Lofgren letter and list of 2003 cosigners). Chances of the appropriation increase being made this year are considered encouraging.

We are not alone in this endeavor. Emily Lehr of the American Geological Institute has just (4/23/04) issued an action alert newsletter about ANSS.

These alerts will reach many in our community, but COSMOS is making a special effort to bring this need to the attention of the geoscience consulting and the earthquake engineering communities and others who would not be reached otherwise. Our perspective on the importance of acquiring strong motion data and acknowledging the collaboration of state governments and other providers must complement communications coming from other parties who are also be engaged in this effort.

Time Frame for Advocacy: The ANSS budget will be finalized in the House appropriation bill during the month of May. Additional signatures for the letter should be received as early as possible, but before May 26, 2004.

What you can do:

Parties to Contact: Please contact the Representative of your Congressional district as soon as possible and ask them to co-sign the Smith/Lofgren letter advocating an appropriation of $10 million for ANSS in 2005. To cosign the Smith/Lofgren letter, House members or their staff need to inform James Hague of the Science Committee (202 225 7858) or David Carreiro of Lofgren's office (202 225 3072).

E-mail: E-mail messages can be sent to your representative via the Write Your Representative website. Using your state and zip code, navigate to your Representative's webpage and click the contact button.
Phone: To call, the U.S. Capitol Switchboard (202) 224-3121 will connect you to your representative's office.

This year e-mails and calls are preferred to hard copy mail because of anthrax security. Those who have opportunity to make in person contacts in D.C. or in district offices are encouraged to do so. Email correspondence with the Chairs and ranking minority leaders and members of the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee and the House Research Subcommittee can also be helpful. The two committee's memberships are listed here: Research Subcommittee and to Interior and Related Agencies Subcommittee.

Suggestions for contact by phone or e-mail:

  • Speak with the staff person responsible for science-related or public safety issues, if making a phone call;
  • Cite your professional experience and the purpose of the communication;
  • Cite your rationale for the $10 M appropriation (consider the information below);
  • E-mail a copy of the Smith/Lofgren letter, or if making a phone call, offer to fax a copy;
  • Provide information (above) on how a member can make cosign arrangements;

Important points to make:

  • ANSS was created to provide a reliable national real-time seismic monitoring capability and to provide data necessary to reducing future earthquake losses by assisting emergency responders and earthquake engineers;
  • To date in its 4-year history, ANSS has been seriously under-funded at only about 10 percent of its 2000 Congressional authorization; the proposed expansion to $10 million is less than one-third of the originally proposed yearly authorization.
  • Despite funding limitations, the USGS has successfully developed a national real-time seismic monitoring system that provides crucial data to emergency managers, lifeline managers and the structural engineering community and building code developers; this work has been accomplished in a cost-effective way by confederation with existing regional network operators in state governments and universities;
  • In recent years, availability of real-time monitored ground motion has motivated development of the data processing program, ShakeMap, which displays maps of regional damage patterns on the internet a few minutes after significant earthquakes occur in the areas in which it is available;
  • Emergency responders, utility and lifeline managers and other safety parties use ShakeMap to focus their efforts after events occur. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has developed the earthquake damage assessment tool, HAZUS, which used in conjunction with ShakeMap, enables responders to provide rapid estimation of dollar losses and casualties.
  • ANSS has enabled ShakeMap products to be more robust (due to more stations in portions of Southern CA) and has enabled availability of the service in northern CA, and in portions of Pacific Northwest and the Intermountain West.
  • The current level of ANSS funding permits only maintenance of the network that has been established to date. Although this level yields valuable services, there is an intense desire for increased capacity and capabilities by the current user groups and similar parties in areas where not available;
  • Little progress has been made in earthquake monitoring of the performance of important types of structures during earthquakes. Such structural monitoring can provide critical insights into how to improve the performance of both new and retrofitted buildings by advancing the state of the art of earthquake resistant designs in addition to being used by first responders.
  • Increasing the ANSS funding to $10 M in FY 2005 can enhance earthquake safety and assist emergency response and recovery by:
    1. Dramatically expanding ANSS monitoring of structural performance in urban areas as originally envisioned in the Congressional ANSS authorization in 2000;
    2. Expanding ShakeMap services to large vulnerable urban areas not addressed under the current system, such as Boston, San Diego, Portland, St. Louis, Memphis, Charleston and Las Vegas;
    3. Providing further improvements of the geographic extent and technical capabilities of earthquake monitoring and data handling in current and new regions ;
    4. Expanding efforts, in concert with other data producers and users in state governments and federal agencies, to improve the efficiency and capability of delivery to earthquake practitioners, local government officials and emergency response personnel of ShakeMap, web-enabled dissemination of strong-motion recordings and other data products which these users desire.