On August 2, 2010, NSC Alliance submitted comments on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) draft Next Generation Strategic Plan. The comments identify the importance of NOAA’s scientific collections to the agency’s mission and call for the strategic plan to “address the curation of, and access to, the 40 scientific collections held by the agency.”
As currently drafted, the strategic plan does not address scientific collections. For more information on NOAA’s draft strategic plan, visit http://www.ppi.noaa.gov/ngsp.html.
On June 23, 2010, the NSC Alliance sent a letter to Senate committee staff working to develop the chamber’s version of the reauthorization of the America COMPETES Act. In short, the NSC Alliance requested that the Senate clarify and expand the provisions of Section 121 in the House-passed version of the legislation. The letter references proposed legislative language developed collaboratively by the American Museum of Natural History and the NSC Alliance.
Click here to read the complete NSC Alliance letter.
On June 18, 2010, the NSC Alliance wrote to Representative Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam) to thank her for recognizing the importance of scientific collections to our capacity to understand how the Deepwater Horizon oil spill will influence the biological systems of the Gulf of Mexico. Bordallo is Chair of the House Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife. Her panel recently held a hearing during which Dr. Jonathan Coddington, associate director of research and collections at the National Museum of Natural History, testified about the importance of natural history collections to describing quantitatively the pre-spill Gulf of Mexico ecosystem. These collections document the biological diversity of the region prior to the oil spill, and will contribute to assessments of the spill’s environmental impacts.
NSC Alliance also noted that science collections are equally important to basic science and to understanding or mitigating the effects of other environmental and public health problems. The letter drew attention to the NSC Alliance request that President Obama promulgate an Executive Order for the Preservation and Use of Science Collections.
On 25 May 2010, the NSC Alliance submitted comments on the “Final Draft Strategic Plan for Establishing a National Digital Biological Collections Resource”. The strategic plan is a 10 year, national effort to digitize and mobilize images and data associated with biological research collections. It was drafted by workshop participants at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center in February 2010.
In its endorsement letter, NSC Alliance cited the need to digitize the nation’s biological collections in order to protect the invaluable scientific knowledge contained within them. Natural and manmade disasters, such as the fire that recently swept through Brazil’s Butantan Institute, pose a real threat to collections. As media reports have chronicled, the fire destroyed one of the world’s largest collections of snakes, spiders, and scorpions. Although not a substitute for the original collections, digitized resources do provide a record of an institution’s holdings and data.
NSC Alliance also called for the support and participation, both financial and technical, of all federal agencies that maintain collections or have collections housed at non-federal facilities.
On May 12, 2010 the Natural Science Collections Alliance (NSC Alliance) submitted comments to the Department of the Interior regarding a rule that outlines procedures for the disposition of culturally unidentifiable Native American human remains in the possession or control of museums or federal agencies. NSC Alliance called for the rescission of the rule, as the rule “is arbitrary and capricious, manifestly contrary to the requirements of the North American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act … and patently illegal under any reasonable standard of agency or judicial review.”
NSC Alliance President William Brown recently provided written outside witness testimony to the House and Senate Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations. The testimony requested that Congress provide President Obama’s requested funding for NSF in FY 2011. Moreover, the testimony expressed support for NSF initiatives that support natural science collections, digitization of collections, and informal science education programs.
On June 5, 2009, NSC Alliance submitted comments to the Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education on a draft science education rule. The rule would implement the Louisiana Science Education Action (SB 733), which was enacted in June 2008. The Act is viewed by many as a back door approach to teaching creationism. The rule approved by the Board of Education in April 2009 would “allow and assist educators in promoting critical thinking skills and objective discussion of scientific theories.” Under the proposed rule, teachers would be allowed to use supplemental textbooks and materials in science classes after covering the content of the state’s science curriculum.
The Natural Science Collections Alliance submitted comments to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) on May 29, 2009 regarding the agency’s development of a strategic research, education, and extension plan. When completed, the plan will identify current trends, constraints, and major opportunities and gaps that no single entity within the USDA would be able to address individually. To view the notice published in the Federal Register, go to http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/E9-7252.htm.
Click here to read the text of the comments submitted by NSC Alliance to the USDA.
The economic stimulus package, also known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, has been at the forefront of the news for several weeks. Passed by Congress on 13 February, the legislation was signed into law by President Obama on 17 February 2009. Obama signed the $787.2 billion package into law at a ceremony at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. While at the museum, the President toured the roof-mounted solar photovoltaic system installed last summer by Namasté. The system consists of 465 solar panels that can generate 134,500 kilowatt hours of electricity per year on average–enough to power 30 homes.
As museum advocates are well aware, museums, zoos and aquaria received significant attention during the Senate’s debate on the stimulus package. Among the large number of amendments proposed in the Senate was one by Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn (Senate Amendment No. 309), the so-called Coburn amendment. This proposal would have prohibited funds in the stimulus package from being provided to museums, zoos, aquariums, and golf courses, and for several specific activities. If included in the final law, the Coburn amendment would have prohibited museums from even competing for funds.
Concerned by the precedent the Coburn amendment would set, science and museum groups mobilized to oppose the amendment. For example, the Natural Science Collections Alliance (NSC Alliance) wrote to Senators urging them to oppose the Coburn amendment, requested that museum advocates call Congress, and requested that the House-Senate conferees and leadership work to remove the limiting language of the Coburn amendment form the final legislation. The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) issued an Action Alert asking members to contact Congress to request that members oppose the Coburn amendment and support a plan to ensure that funding for various science agencies, including the National Science Foundation, not be stripped from the final legislation.
During a remarkably quick conference between the House and the Senate, compromise legislation was adopted. The final $787 billion compromise legislation was significantly smaller than the $819 billion House bill and the $838 billion Senate bill. The compromise legislation was approved by each chamber on 13 February 2009. The House of Representatives passed it by a largely party-line vote of 246-183, with all Republicans and 7 Democrats voting against the bill. The Senate passed the measure with 60 votes, which included three Republican Senators — Olympia Snowe (ME), Susan Collins (ME), and Arlen Specter (PA).
Although the Coburn amendment was adopted by the Senate, congressional leaders listened to scientists and museum advocates and the final version of the stimulus legislation no longer prohibits museums from receiving or competing for funds provided via the stimulus. Overall, the final bill includes funding for scientific research and development. Early analysis suggests that $176 million will go to the Agricultural Research Service, $830 million to NOAA, $2.5 billion to NSF, and $140 million for the US Geological Survey. The National Institutes of Health will receive $10.4 billion.
Click here to read the letter sent to the House-Senate conferees about the Coburn amendment.
Click here to read the thank you letter sent to House-Senate conferees for removal of the prohibitive language.
NEWS RELEASE
For release: 27 October 2008
Contact: Robert Gropp, 202-628-1500
Natural Science Collections Group Working to Identify Impacts of Negative Economy on Scientific Research, Education Institutions
Washington, DC – The Natural Science Collections Alliance (NSC Alliance), the United States’ leading nonprofit association serving natural science collections, their human resources, and the institutions that house them for the benefit of science and society has launched a survey to identify how the current global financial meltdown may affect natural science collections. Continue Reading »
