STATEMENT OF THE HON. VIRGINIA SMITH OF NEBRASKA BEFORE THE APPROPRIATIONS WITH REFERENCE TO THE PROPOSED CLOSING OF THE VALENTINE, NEBRASKA, NATIONAL Mr. Chairman, once again I thank you for making this time available to me to testify in favor of keeping the Valentine, Nebraska, weather station open and to present evidence that it should be upgraded to full-time operation. I would like also to apologize for having to come before you again on this matter. I believe this is the fourth time in two years that you have accorded me this courtesy. But, ir. Chairman, this is a matter of life and death--for both people and animals. It is also an economic matter. It is such a serious matter that I willingly would go through this again and again not only for the people of Valentine but to demonstrate how blind our Government can be. It is my duty as a member of the Congress not to let this monolithic bureaucratic Federal establishment go crashing around the country like a grand piano crashing around a storm-tossed ship. To demonstrate the desperate need for this weather station--not just on a part-time basis but fully staffed with the latest radar equipment, I would like to read a paragraph or two from just a few of the more than 400 letters that the people of Valentine, (with a population of only 2,662 but in a total trade area of about 20,000 persons) and others have written: First, however, let me turn to this map, that I have had prepared to illustrate what our Federal Government proposes to do to the people of Valentine. Mr. Chairman, this map is not perfectly drawn precisely to scale, but it shows Valentine's location, indicated by the red heart, in relation to other weather stations. It shows that so-called "local" weather forecasts will be issued from North Platte, which is the nearest manned station that would remain in operation if the Valentine station is changed to automated operations. That is 130 miles away. I quote from the National Weather Service's proposal for fiscal 1980: "After closure of the Valentine office, forecasts provided by Omaha will be used around the clock." Mr. Chairman, that is 250 miles eastward. Valentine cannot safely endure under these circumstances. On March 17, for example, the North Platte weather station was reporting rain for Valentine when there was more than four inches of snow on the ground'already and more coming down. This is from a letter from Mr. Robert L. Gass. 468 North Main St., of Valentine. The next is from a volunteer part-time weather observer at Valentine: "I arrived at the office at about 8:30 p.m. on March 29 to take the 9 p.m. observation, the last having been at 7 p.m. I received a call from the North Platte Weather Service that the Omaha forecaster had attempted to call our Cherry County Sheriff to inquire about our weather at that time. Omaha couldn't reach him. The weather had deteriorated from light freezing rain at 7 p.m. to include also snow with reduced visiblilty at 9 p.m. "I placed a call to Omaha and the zone forecaster got the worsening conditions. I informed him that the city streets were slushy and I assumed the highways were pretty much the same." This letter is from irs. Connee Selmajer, 616 North Hall, Valentine. Mr. Chairman, if the National Weather Service's own professional staff needs information from Valentine, how could I better demonstrate to you and this committee that Valentine needs 24-hour service? 4/10/79--Valentine Testimony--Page Two Let me try another way. This letter is from a scientist, a man who is a climatology researcher at the University of Nebraska. He writes: "The Valentine weather station provides service for a large region experiencing the most rapid and wide weather fluctuations in the United States. "The need is indeed great. This station is also a vital point in a network to a new computer program for monitoring and assessing crop weather conditions in Nebraska. "It is also a key point in a national Forestry Weather Information Service System that among its many programs forecast range fires that are a serious threat to cattle production and the lives of people in the Sandhills of Nebraska. "Our role as one of the major food-producing states renders this station very important to the national welfare including those unfamiliar with agriculture who may falsely come to a conclusion that it should be closed. Please convey my concern to those who must make such decisions." This letter is from Professor R.E. Neild, agricultural climatology department of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. I wish I could put Valentine's own professional forecasters, irs. Claire Mancuso, in this witness chair beside me, but while I have had no personal contact with Mrs. Mancuso, I am told by other Valentine residents that she has been warned of retribution by her superiors if she furnishes information to me or to this committee that conflicts with National Weather Service intent to convert the station to automated operation. So I have had to rely on others for professional insight. Such as Hugh Potter of Valentine who formerly served as weather observer at Valentine for several years. He writes: "My experience in the weather service, both civilian and military, shows that many severe blizzards in winter and thunderstorm-tornado activity in the summer actually forms in this very area of Valentine and west to Merriman. "To me, it is unthinkable to try to save a paltry $9,000 per year when this station means so much in the statewide and national weather picture. "Good forecasters need this reporting station to make their forecasts, and the local weather forecasting people do an excellent job of forecasting conditions locally that affect the ranchers and farmers so they can have time to take measures to protect their livestock." Here is another letter from the Emergency Preparedness Committee of the Rosebud Indian Agency: Many of our severe weather conditions actually are formed west of this locality and east of the Rapid City and Chadron observing stations. I would like to point out, Mr. Chairman that your Federal Government and mine chooses to ignore the simple fact that bad weather usually springs up north and west of Valentine. It is planning to leave these people to the tender mercies of professional forecasters based 130 miles south in North Platte. Valentine desperately needs radar and doesn't have it. I have been informed that on March 24 both weather service radars in Alliance and North Platte were out of service and cannot be fixed perhaps until May. These radars are supposed to aid the Valentine forecaster. I am told that these radars need oscillators--and not even the manufacturer has any at this time. I could go on and on. I am told that the weather service is determined to impose the metric system on its forecasters--at an exhorbitant cost. I am told that the impact of changing stations to automation and contracting certain service to private concerns is having a devastating effect on weatherservice morale and is resulting in damaging staff turnover. 4/10/79--Valentine Testimony--Page Three But my role here is to demonstrate the need for improving, and upgrading our weather station in Valentine to full-time manned operation. I must leave to others the problem of the deteriorating internal situation now handicapping our dedicated and enthusiastic forecasters. To show you what the Government is trying to replace with machinery and electronic gadgets, let me just read into the record some of the weather service's own description of our Valentine forecaster herself, 'irs. Mancuso: "Works without direct supervision, and budgets time to meet deadlines and complete tasks. Demonstrates quality, efficiency, and consistency in performing assigned tasks. Demonstrates ability to work rapidly and accurately under heavy workload and severe pressure. Responds quickly. "Prepares self to assume responsibility by making a thorough review of any factors that may affect her area of responsibility during the shift. Uses personal knowledge of sensing and recording equipment limitations to judge reliability of data. Completes forms, charts, worksheets, reports and other assigned documentation procedures accurately and on time. Performs adjustments to equipment, remains alert for weather changes that require documentation, evaluates quickly, and acts quickly to record observation that describe the weather according to applicable instructions. Gives a complete aviation weather picture at each briefing that includes suggested alternate courses of action to the pilot in case of en route weather changes." Mr. Chairman, there are four more pages of such description of what Mrs. Mancuso does for the people of Valentine. And the Government thinks it can replace her with machinery! I must say, with as much restraint as I can muster, that this is rubbishutter nonsense. To demonstrate how vital this weather station is to the economics of the Valentine area, here is an excerpt from a letter from Pat McGinley, President of the Nebraska Stock Growers Assn. who lives far away in Oshgosh, Nebraska. He writes: The services the Valentine weather station gives the cattle producers in this area is invaluable. The area it serves represents many thousands of cattle and the alert of just one storm would mean hundreds of thousands of dollars to the industry by taking the proper precautions." I wish to submit for the record one more letter from the Valentine school superintendent. He writes: "I am responsible for 58 rural teachers and 41 school districts in Cherry County--not to mention the many young people who are in attendance in these schools. "The lives of these young people and teachers would be in jeopardy many times throughout the school year if it were not for our local weather station in Valentine that gives early warning of incoming storms. "No other weather station in the state of Nebraska could serve this same purpose because of our location and the variation of different weather conditions even with a ten-mile radius in our county. Only people who have lived in this portion of Nebraska can realize the dire necessity of our Valentine weather station and the weather conditions of this area that can mean life or death." Anything that I add to such a letter can only be anticlimax. I already have gone too long. I will submit the letters for the Subcommittee inspection. They are from professors, teachers, school children, farmers, ranchers, and all the important organizations--chambers of commerce, banks, the Sioux Indians. I didn't urge them to write. These are spontaneous letters. It is a fantastic outpouring. I am extremely proud of the people of Valentine. Mrs. SMITH. I think our government in this proposal is crashing around the country like a grand piano on the deck of a stormtossed ship, proposing to save $9,000 by closing that weather station, when we are about to give $3,600,000 to the World Bank. To demonstrate how desperate the situation is, I would like to quote from some of the 400 letters that have come to me from the community of Valentine, which has only 2,600 people in it, but 20,000 people in the area, and there are the 400 letters [indicating]. First, I have this map prepared to illustrate just what this would do to the people of Valentine. Their nearest weather forecaster would be in North Platte, 130 miles to the south. The weather reporting would come from Omaha, 250 miles to the southeast. Omaha cannot forecast for Valentine. On March 17, they predicted it was going to rain in Valentine, and there was already four inches of snow, and the snow was getting deeper. In the evening on the 29th of March, a part-time weather forecaster, a volunteer, went over to the station. They called her from Omaha and said, "How's the weather out there, still raining?" The rain had turned into sleet and snow. The visibility was way down. The pavement was slushy; the conditions were seriously getting worse. A researcher from the University of Nebraska wrote to me. "The Valentine weather station provides service for a large region experiencing the most rapid and wide weather fluctuations in the U.S. The need is indeed great. This station is also a vital point in a network to a new computer program for monitoring and assessing crop weather conditions in Nebraska. Our role as one of the major food-producing states renders this station very important to the national welfare including those unfamiliar with agriculture who may falsely come to a conclusion it should be closed. Please convey my concern to those who must make such decisions." I should not be sitting here alone. I should have Mrs. Mancuso, who is our weather station operator, here beside me. She didn't come because she had been warned by her superiors that she would have retributions against her if she said anything to me or to the committee that was in conflict with what the weather station wanted to do. I have to rely on the former weather forecaster from Valentine, who is now retired, and it doesn't matter. He says: My experience in the weather service, both civilian and military, shows that many severe blizzards in winter and thunderstorm-tornado activity in the summer actually forms in this very area of Valentine. He said: To me, it is unthinkable to try to save a paltry $9,000 a year when this station means so much in the statewide and national weather picture. Good forecasters need this reporting station to make their forecasts and the local weather forecasting people do an excellent job of forecasting conditions locally that affect the ranchers and farmers so they have time to take measures to protect their livestock. The other former forecaster from the Valentine station has written to say that the storms form to the northwest. They are not formed down in North Platte or Omaha. The weather goes this way. These stations are not in a position where they can do their forecasting. Actually we need radar and a full-time forecaster up there. We certainly need a full-time station. The nearest radar we 43-900 O-79 - 15 have is 130 miles south at North Platte. Out here in Alliance, it is down and has no oscillators. We have no radar equipment in the area. They want to replace our weather service, our operator up there, with an electronic gadget. I would like to read to you, Mr. Slack, the Weather Service's own description of what our Valentine forecaster does: Works without direct supervision, budgets time to meet deadlines and complete tasks. Demonstrates quality, efficiency, and consistency in performing assigned tasks. Demonstrates ability to work rapidly and accurately under heavy workload and severe pressure. Responds quickly. Prepares self to assume responsibility by making a thorough review of any factors that may affect her area of responsibility during the shift. Uses personal knowledge of sensing and recording equipment limitations to judge reliability of data. Completes forms, charts, worksheets, reports and other assigned documentation procedures accurately and on time. Performs adjustments to equipment. Remains alert for weather changes that require documentation, evaluates quickly, and acts quickly to record observations that describe the weather according to applicable instructions. Gives a complete aviation weather picture at each briefing and suggests alternate courses of action to the pilot in case of rapid weather changes. That is two paragraphs, and there are four more pages of what Mrs. Mancuso does as the weather reporter in Valentine, and they want to replace her with automation. I just want to say, Mr. Chairman, with all the restraint that I can muster, that this is pure rubbish and utter nonsense. I would like to submit a part of one more letter from the Valentine School Superintendent. He writes: I am responsible for 58 rural teachers and 41 school districts in Cherry Countythat is the third largest county in the nation-not to mention the many young people who attend these schools. The lives of these young people and their teachers would be in jeopardy many times throughout the school year were it not for our local weather station in Valentine that gives early warning of incoming storms. No other weather station in the State of Nebraska could serve this purpose because of our location and the variation of different weather conditions even within a 10-mile radius. Only people who have lived in this portion of Nebraska can realize the dire necessity of our Valentine weather station and the weather conditions in this area that can mean life or death. I have already gone on too long, Mr. Chairman. I will submit these letters for the committee's inspection. They are from professional teachers, school children, farmers, ranchers, important organizations, stockbrokers, chamber of commerce, the bank, the Sioux Indians. I did not urge these people to write. They are spontaneous letters, and it is a fantastic outpouring. Thank you very much. Mr. SLACK. Thank you, Mrs. Smith. You have made a very persuasive argument on behalf of the Valentine weather station. I cannot state what this committee will do in the final analysis, but I can assure you your request will receive full consideration by this committee. |