On the recordMarch 14, 2011
I rise today to reintroduce a bill and talk about an issue that has, unfortunately, become a regular occurrence in Alaska and holds great interest to the Nation and the world. I am talking about volcano monitoring. While erupting volcanoes are a early constant part of our lives in Alaska, it usually takes a worldwide event such the eruption last year of a volcano in Iceland, which disrupted air traffic in Europe and around the world, to capture the public's attention. Two years ago it was the eruption of Mount Redoubt, which cancelled hundreds of flights in Alaska that motivated me to introduce the National Volcano Early Warning and Monitoring System Act. I reintroduce the bill now because it is still vitally important to the United States. The volcanoes in Alaska make up well over three-quarters of U.S. volcanoes that have erupted in the last two hundred years. About 50 volcanic eruptions occur around the world every year, according to the United States Geological Survey, USGS. The United States ranks third, behind Indonesia and Japan, in its number of historically active volcanoes. That is why it is so important to fund volcano monitoring, which in Alaska is through the Alaska Volcano Observatory.
