Friday, April 25, 2008

Clinton Introduces Bill to Fund Aricebo Telescope

In a move some call driven to gain votes in the Puerto Rican democratic primaries, Hillary Clinton introduced a bill to provide funding to the Arecibo Observatory, similar to a stalled bill released in the house last year.

The Arecibo budget is 12.5 million a year. The NSF, the other major federal science agency, is squeezed for cash as well as NASA. They have announced that they are planning on cutting funding for the telescope in 2010.

Read Hillary's Press release and the text of the bill.

Then Email, Fax, Call, and Visit your Representative and Senator and tell them to vote in support of Senate Resolution 2862 or House Resolution 3737.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

From the bill:

The Director of the National Science Foundation shall--
(1) ensure that the Arecibo Observatory is fully funded to continue--
(A) its research on Earth's ionosphere;
(B) its research in radio astronomy; and
(C) research on the solar system; and
(2) coordinate with the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to ensure that the capabilities of the Arecibo Observatory continue to be available for National Aeronautics and Space Administration research in characterizing and mitigating near-Earth objects, and other research as needed.

No way. NSF has newer observatories to fund for its NRAO projects, such as the VLA and the ATA; Arecibo is a dinosaur compared to those! I vehemently urge people to not undermine the NSF's budgetary panel's decisions and to urge their congresspersons to vote against this bill, which is simply grandstanding for Puerto Rico's delegates.