John Fetterman Asks NOAA Administrator Nominee: Should Lake Erie Become A National Marine Sanctuary?

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During a Senate Commerce Committee confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) asked NOAA Administrator Nominee Dr. Neil Jacobs about Lake Erie.

Transcript

00:00Senator Fetterman.

00:03Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:06Hello, Dr. Jacobs.

00:09Hi.

00:10I mean, I'm from Pennsylvania, and I'm sure you're familiar with Lake Erie.

00:15I love Erie.

00:18Erie is a very special part of my state.

00:21And now, for me, Lake Erie is such an incredibly important economic engine

00:29and major, major cultural amenity for Pennsylvania.

00:35Tourism in Erie brings in over $1.2 billion and supports more than 15,000 jobs.

00:43And now, for me, the tourism, it's driven because of the beauty.

00:48If anyone in here in the room has ever been to Presque Island,

00:51and it's one of the most remarkable parks in the country,

00:56and I'm not saying that as just a booster.

00:58I'm saying that it actually is true.

01:00And my family swims in Lake Erie, so we have a lot of skin in that game, too.

01:06So protecting and making Erie more and more clean and pure.

01:12So for me, NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries

01:17is working to designate Lake Erie as a National Marine Sanctuary.

01:21And, of course, I fully support that, and know people that live in Erie support that.

01:30And today, I was just asking to see if you support that

01:32or would like to commit or work with my office to see this happen quickly.

01:36If confirmed, I'd love to work with you in your office on that.

01:42That's wonderful.

01:44And then now, some people, maybe my colleagues, may not be aware of lake effect snow.

01:52So I'm an amateur.

01:54So I would describe it as when colder air sweeps over warmer water of Lake Erie,

02:02and that can drop three feet of snow really in a short amount of time.

02:07Is that an accurate?

02:09Your science is correct.

02:11Oh, yeah.

02:12It's heat flux driven.

02:14Yeah, yeah.

02:14So for me, and if you live in Erie, you know, 18 inches doesn't even make the news, really.

02:20You know, rarely.

02:21And that's, you know, I mean, I live in Pittsburgh.

02:25We don't even, it's so different.

02:27It's very, very specific to that region because of lake effect snow.

02:30And if you're from Arizona, you're like, I have no idea what that means.

02:34But, you know, I remember there was one Christmas time that I think 50, 55 inches dumped on Erie quickly in about 24 to 36 hours.

02:48So, of course, no is very important.

02:51So for me, and it's been brought to my attention that the National Weather Service that oversees Erie doesn't have a meteorologist.

03:05So, and I believe that.

03:07So for me, even if it's like a part-time thing, I think it's reasonable when you can have three feet of snow from those things.

03:14So I just think perhaps I support having a meteorologist even part-time from a savings perspective for there.

03:24So just if you have any thoughts.

03:26I don't know the exact staffing levels at your office, but I'll definitely get back to you on the numbers.

03:33And if confirmed, I definitely commit to making sure it's staffed up.

03:37Great.

03:37That's great.

03:38And I actually, I yield.

03:40Okay.

03:44Senator Markey.

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