Bipartisan Wicker, Gardner bill to better plan for extreme space weather events clears committee

Bipartisan legislation introduced by U.S. Sens. Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Cory Gardner (R-CO) to better forecast and mitigate the impact of extreme space weather events on the electrical grid and communications systems cleared the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

The Space Weather Research and Forecasting Act would direct federal agencies to develop new tools and technologies to better forecast, monitor and understand the potential impacts of extreme space weather events like solar flares and coronal mass ejections that occur from the sun.

NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense and the Federal Aviation Administration would be given clear roles and responsibilities in regard to studying and predicting space weather events.

“This legislation has real momentum for good reason,” Wicker said. “Predicting space weather more accurately could help us avoid costly risks to public safety. Giving federal agencies such as NASA, NOAA and FAA the right tools to improve coordination is a necessary step to mitigate these risks.”

Lloyd’s of London estimates that a worst-case scenario space weather event could have an economic impact of $2.6 trillion and impact as many as 40 million people through power outages, GPS disruptions and communication network disturbances.

“The Senate Commerce Committee’s passage of bipartisan space weather legislation (on Tuesday) brings us one step closer to having a response and recovery plan in place if a space weather event occurs,” Gardner said. “This bill is important to protect critical infrastructure across the country and I look forward to working with my colleagues to see this bill become law.”