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By
TORY N. PARRISH
U.S.
Rep. Sherwood Boehlert and 12 other U.S. lawmakers are
getting a firsthand look at U.S. research facilities in
the South Pole.
The group wants to gauge the return on the U.S. investment
of more than $1 billion in facilities and research under
the U.S. Antarctic Program, a scientific research program.
Boehlert, R-New Hartford and chairman of the House Science
Committee, is in Antarctica heading a 10-member congressional
delegation to review progress on new research facilities
and scientific studies. The group joined a three-member
Senate delegation being led by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.,
and a senior member of the Commerce, Science and Transportation
Committee.
Both committees have jurisdiction over the National Science
Foundation, which funds and manages the U.S. Antarctic
Program.
The on-site visit is part of the oversight process that
should involve more "in the field" activity,
Boehlert said.
"That's something Congress doesn't do nearly enough
of," he said during a Monday afternoon telephone
press conference from McMurdo Station, the largest of
three permanent stations the National Science Foundation
sponsors in Antarctica.
While the delegation will not present an official report
of its trip to Congress, members will discuss their observations
with colleagues to help them make informed decisions about
scientific funding and research, said Joe Pouliot, communications
director for the science committee.
Three years ago, Boehlert led another delegation to Antarctica.
The science committee paid $25,455 for lodging, meals
and local transportation, but the U.S. Air Force provided
the international travel. The total costs for this month's
trip is not yet known, Pouliot said.
Boehlert also said he invited U.S. Air Force Undersecretary
Ronald M. Sega as part of his continuing efforts to expose
U.S. Air Force Research Lab work at Griffiss Business
and Technology Park to key decision makers.
Since the 1950s, the United States has invested more
than $1 billion in the Antarctic facilities to study environmental
subjects, such as ozone layer depletion and climate changes,
in a unique location. Antarctica is the coldest, windiest,
driest and highest continent.
Part of that $1 billion investment includes a $150 million
station in the South Pole that is expected to be completed
by 2007 and a new $242 million astrophysics research observatory.
"So, it's incumbent upon the chairman and the committee
to go see firsthand and how taxpayer dollars are being
spent," Pouliot said.
Most of the program's 1,360 scientists in Antarctica
now are university researchers who received research grants
from the science foundation, which sets aside $250 million
for the Antarctic program's operating budget.
During the delegation members' 16-day trip — the
group will return to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 18 —
they also will visit research centers in New Zealand and
Australia, and a Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii.
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