Obama Administration Considering Possible Research Funding

Last month, as the US Congress debated a $50.5 billion aid package for victims of Hurricane Sandy (the bill passed yesterday and now awaits President Obama's signature), the Administration indicated that it is considering funding for research into geoengineering.  Thomas R. Armstrong, Executive Director of the US Global Change Research Program (a key federal coordinating body), reportedly remarked, "The hundred-year floods are now the five-year floods."  He continued, "There has not been enough open public discussion about the pros and cons of geoengineering."  The details of any proposed program are unknown, but the FY2014 budget process is scheduled to get underway in Washington in February.