Today, the House of Representatives passed numerous pieces of legislation that Congresswoman Bice co-leads.
First, the Weather Act Reauthorization package. This package will help support critical research programs currently operating at NOAA, while also establishing new programs to advance forecasting, expands commercial data partnerships, strengthens emergency preparedness, and advances tools for farmers, ranchers, and resource managers. The legislation contains three of Congresswoman Bice’s Bills: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Weather Radio Modernization Act, the National Mesonet Authorization Act, and the Weather Innovation for Next Generation (WING) Act.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Weather Radio Modernization Act will help save lives by updating our emergency alert system. Specifically, it paves the way for future development and provides failsafe options, so the National Weather Radio is never down for an extended period of time thus making those outages less frequent. Next, the National Mesonet Authorization Act will work to increase the overall coverage and accuracy of the National Mesonet Program. It will provide reliable, real-time data and observations for weather prediction, severe weather warnings, and emergency response.
The second piece of legislation is the Abandoned Well Remediation Research and Development Act, which would establish an abandoned wells research, development, and demonstration program at the Department of Energy. There are estimated to be 700,000 to 3,000,000 abandoned wells in the U.S., costing between $30,000 to $1,000,000 per well to plug. Improving the technologies and methods associated with the plugging and remediation process for abandoned wells could reduce the overall costs, improve the efficiency of remediation, mitigate environmental harms, and reduce methane emissions. Congresswoman Bice co-leads this legislation with Rep. Lee (D-PA).
Congresswoman Bice issued the following statement:
“It was great to see so many provisions and bills that will benefit Oklahoma pass the House. Over the weekend, severe weather ripped through our state, changing lives forever. Oklahomans must have the resources they need when critical weather events strike. Thankfully, the Weather Act Reauthorization will improve weather forecasting and modernize the systems we already have in place, ensuring they become more reliable and effective. This legislation also includes the NOAA Weather Radio Act which will help address the aging infrastructure in these systems and prevent outages or disruptions like those seen this weekend from occurring in the future.”
“I was also pleased to see that the House passed my legislation, the Abandoned Well Remediation Research and Development Act. Oil and gas production are the heart of Oklahoma’s economy. While active wells support hundreds of thousands of jobs, legacy sites, and abandoned wells can present environmental and economic problems. This legislation authorizes the Department of Energy to work to improve the data on the location of abandoned wells; the processes for plugging, reclaiming, and repurposing wells; and the ability to mitigate potential environmental impacts of leaking wells. This legislation will close the innovation gap and ultimately save federal dollars. Thank you to Representative Lee for working in a bi-partisan fashion on this bill.”
Congresswoman Bice spoke on the House Floor in support of both pieces of legislation.
