"Get Help to the States!"—A Legislative History of Climate Services in the United States, 1975–78

During the late 1970s, some members of the United States Congress introduced seminal legislation to ameliorate what they believed to be the economic and social costs of climatic change. Concerned that American society had become too sensitive to the stresses of even minor climatic fluctuations as manifest in recent weather-related crises, many felt that congressional legislation was necessary to foster greater cooperation between various groups—state climatologists; agricultural researchers; local, state, and federal policy makers; private and public industries. The hope was that greater coordination of the nation’s economic and scientific resources would stimulate a more flexible and resilient society, while allowing the implementation of a more service-driven approach to climate governance.

Despite congressional urgency, however, the Carter Administration—specifically the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) — challenged congressional efforts on the basis that accommodating user needs was both scientifically unjustified and politically irresponsible. By examining the arguments used both for and against the implementation of a user-oriented climate program, this talk brings into focus the early legislative and conceptual challenges of integrating climate into national decision making.