Senate Approves Funding for Defense Department's Center for Geosciences and Atmospheric Research at Colorado State University

Funding Will Boost Center's Study of Environmental Conditions, Terrain that Troops, Military Aircraft Encounter

Defense Appropriations Bill Now Headed to President's Desk

U.S. Senators Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, along with U.S. Representatives John Salazar and Betsy Markey, today announced that the Defense Department's Center for Geosciences and Atmospheric Research at Colorado State University is on track to receive $3 million in new federal funding to expand research on priority environmental problems and questions of concern to the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force.

The funding was included at the legislators' request in the Defense appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2010. The bill, which passed in the House earlier this week, was approved by the Senate today. It now heads to the president's desk for his signature.

"I'm proud to support Colorado State University's cutting-edge research in an area critical to helping our troops do their jobs," said Senator Udall, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "CSU's environmental research program is a national resource for the Department of Defense and helps our troops in the field fine-tune their maneuvers to account for variations in weather and climate conditions."

"When our military men and women go overseas, they must adapt quickly to rough and dangerous terrain," Bennet said. "This research is essential to understanding the new terrains our troops will encounter abroad and to helping them complete their missions."

The Department of Defense encounters environmental conditions that disrupt counterterrorism, war-fighting, humanitarian, peacekeeping, and training operations. Continued funding would allow ongoing research in areas such as flood forecasting in Northern Iraq and cave detection in Afghanistan.

This grant would also help improve understanding of environmental conditions in complex urban areas and improve forecasting of clouds and icing that impedes use of manned and unmanned aircraft.