An old adage of U.S. politics has it that there is no clearer statement of a President’s priorities than his annual budget proposal. In unveiling the Fiscal Year 2015 budget proposal on Tuesday, President Obama made one thing abundantly clear: climate change is a high priority for the second year of his second term.
The $3.9 trillion budget, delivered to Congress Tuesday morning, would boost federal spending on programs that make the U.S. more resilient to climate change-related impacts, such as droughts, heat waves and floods. While the budget stands little chance of passing Congress in its current form, it serves as a starting point for congressional Democrats in their negotiations with Republicans.
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The budget proposal would provide $2.5 billion for the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), which coordinates climate research across 13 federal agencies, from NASA to the Department of Agriculture. This would be $12 million more than the estimated spending level during Fiscal Year 2014, according to budget documents released by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
NASA, which oversees satellite observation platforms and computer modeling programs, would receive the largest share of USGCRP funding. As an example of NASA’s climate-related work, last week, the first of five earth observation satellites scheduled to be launched this year blasted off from a launch pad in Japan.
The agency's Global Precipitation Measurement mission aims to provide scientists with an unparalleled view of the planet’s water cycle, which will add to their understanding of climate change.

Boulder Creek flows at high speed next to a road closed off by debris from days of rain and flooding, at the base of Boulder Canyon, Colo., Friday, Sept. 13, 2013.
Image: Brennan Linsley/Associated Press
The budget proposal also includes a brand new $1 billion climate resilience fund meant to help communities across the country adapt to climate change impacts that are already occurring. Studies, including a major United Nations report released in 2014, have found that the 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit increase in global average surface temperatures to date has already increased the odds of heavy precipitation events, heat waves, and coastal flooding in many areas.
In a post on the White House website, three administration officials said the resilience fund is meant to make a difference in the near-term, while the country continues to work to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions that are contributing to manmade global warming.
“We are not just seeing global increases in air and ocean temperatures, we are seeing changes across the United States: extended periods of unusual heat, a greater number of heavier downpours, more severe regional drought and wildfires in parts of the American West, permafrost thawing in Alaska, ocean acidification, and sea level rise threatening coastal communities,” wrote Michael Boots, who heads up the White House Council on Environmental Quality, along with White House Science advisor John Holdren and homeland security advisor Lisa Monaco.
According to the Obama administration officials, the fund will provide $400 million to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for “additional hazard mitigation and preparedness efforts.” It will also help make America’s infrastructure more resilient to severe storms; for example, microgrid projects could make electricity service more reliable during extreme weather events.
The fund would also help support new climate analysis efforts, including sea level rise mapping, the officials said.
The budget would fully fund the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) weather and climate satellite programs at $2 billion. Some of these satellite programs are years behind schedule and billions over budget.
According to several independent assessments, keeping the satellites on track for their projected launch dates is critical for ensuring the reliability of weather and climate forecasts, with a yearlong gap in polar satellite observations all but certain, according to the current timeline. This could temporarily diminish the accuracy of five-to-seven day weather forecasts.
On the energy side, the budget would provide $5.2 billion in funding for clean energy technologies at the Department of Energy (DOE), including $325 million for the DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency, also known as ARPA-E.
ARPA-E functions much like a private sector venture capital firm, investing in cutting edge, high-risk research endeavors that have the potential to transform the energy landscape.
Overall, DOE would see an 8% increase in research funding compared to its estimated Fiscal Year 2014 level.
The budget would also include a new tax credit to encourage investment in infrastructure that would support vehicles powered by natural gas, hydrogen gas, electric motors, or other fuels.
The big energy story during the Obama administration has been the sharp increase in American oil and natural gas production through the use of advanced drilling techniques such as hydraulic fracturing, also known as “fracking.” Last year, domestic oil production exceeded crude oil imports for the first time since 1996, according to the White House.
The American oil and gas boom has had a dark side to it, with two major oil spills during the past three years, and an increase in rail-based oil shipments that have raised safety concerns. In addition, studies have shown that fracking may pose environmental health and safety problems.
The 2015 budget would provide $48 million to support interagency research to examine health and safety issues associated with fracking.
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