Schiff Applauds Announcement of Support for Earthquake Early Warning System (MyBurbank)
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who helped last year to secure $8.2 million in the FY 2016 funding bill specifically designated for a West Coast Earthquake Early Warning System and $5 million the previous year, released the following statement before the start of the White House Earthquake Resilience Summit which he will participate in:
“The West Coast is due for another earthquake, and the question is not if, but when, the next big one will hit,” said Schiff. “When it does, it will undoubtedly cause significant damage to homes, businesses and infrastructure, cause injuries, and potentially result in fatalities. We have the real opportunity to mitigate that damage and save lives if we act now on an early warning system. We have had significant success over the past few years in Congress funding the effort to fully build out a West Coast Early Warning System, but the federal government cannot – and will not – fund the system in its entirety. And so I am very pleased that the private sector is getting involved and lending their support, as many companies based on the West Coast will benefit tremendously by the implementation of an early warning system. We are also hearing encouraging words of support from the affected states which I hope will soon be followed by more concrete pledges of financial assistance.”
Last year, Rep. Schiff secured $8.2 million in the FY 2016 funding bill specifically designated for a West Coast Earthquake Early Warning System. The $8.2 million was a substantial increase over what the President requested in his budget. In 2015, Schiff also led a group of 35 Members of Congress – primarily from California, Washington, and Oregon – to request that the Appropriations Committee fund an Earthquake Early Warning System for the West Coast. The final FY16 budget funds the Early Warning System at a higher level than the $5 million originally included in the Interior and Environment Appropriations bill. The funding level in the FY16 budget also exceeded the President’s $5 million budget request earlier this year. Senator Feinstein, Rep. Schiff and 35 other Members of Congress sent a letter to the President in October 2014, asking him to include funding for the West Coast Early Warning System for FY2016. In December 2014, Congress passed a funding bill for FY2015 which included an additional $5 million specifically for the Earthquake Early Warning System, bringing the total funding for the system for FY2015 to $6.5 million.
Source: My Burbank