DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR PROPOSED TESTIMONY FOR 3/22/84 ON S. 1855 S. 1861 S. 2292 -- LANDSAT COMMERCIALIZATION ACT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90B01370R001101550026-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 30, 2008
• Sequence Number: 26
• Publication Date: March 16, 1984
• Content Type: MEMO

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,% JIAI
Office of Legislative Liaison
Routing Slip
STAT
STAT
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EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
March 16, 1984
LEGISLATIVE REFERRAL MEMORANDUM
TO: Legislative Liaison Officer
Department of Agriculture
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Department of Commerce
Office of Science and Technology Policy
Federal Communications Commission
Gener Services Administration
Dep tment of Justice
De artment of State
entral;-Sntelligence Agency
National Security Council
Department of Transportation
SUBJECT: Department of the Interior proposed testimony for
3/22/84, on S. 1855, S. 1861, S. 2292 -- LANDSAT
Commercialization Act.
Oll U
Y T76
The Office of Management and Budget requests the views of your
agency on the above subject before advising on its relationship
to the program of the President, in accordance with OMB Circular
A-19.
A response to this request for your views is needed no later than
4:00 p.m. - Tuesday, March 30, 1984. Oral comments acceptable.
Questions should be referred to William ,.,Maxwell (395-3890),
the legislative analyst in this office.
Jam'J C . r4 ifr/ for
Assistant Director for
Legislative Reference
Enclosures
cc: Scott Gudps Arnie Donahue
Dan Taft Norine Noonan
Tim Sprehe Pat Szervo
Bill Hughes
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CObIC ESBI0'.&t TESTIKOKY. BEFORE THE SCIE1tCJr, 'rECHUOL0GY, I111D SPSCE
SUS-OPNITTEF OF THE SOATS COI. .ERCE, 3CIRHCS, AHD
TEAK POYTATIOii C ITT!!
K.?. C b 4nd ta~ia'+$r5 of the oti~ o mittee, mp ne~ as ~i,.% ~~t 4.x.,
pim
rr {I'. ".~~wa-c . . r e On behalf of the
I the (title)
ps.rtrnnt of t`* Interior, t am pleased to be here today to discuss
Interior's perspective onjcc ereie-lization.of the U.S, land remoto
Sets int, e4tellIte ny tea, I will tlso-ccOnt briefly on :elected
aspects: of the Lbreo bills tefore this subcomittee p-ortaininC to
setell:,te land reite aeneins -- S. 2292, S. 1855. end S. 1861. All
three bills have ne a principal objective tto maintenance of United
Stites leadership is thie tecbnoloty. Of the three bilia, S. 2292,
recently Introduced by Cbairm&n Gorton and Senator Goldwater, app+ars to
be the most coa:prehonsive and Is quite aissilar to N.R. 4836, r.contly
introduced In tba Route Cemsittee on Scitnee and Technoloty. Kerco, my
coz%t n':s directed tcwarde the lesislttion will concern S. 2292, the "Land
Re. ot* Sensing Satellite Comm;snicotione Act of 1984."
I want to a phaaiae at the outset that the Departmat of the Interior
is tenors tbo atroatost advocates for this
new are of Monte $enaint
technology. The Departraen: Was among the earliest to recognize the
potential of satellite nand remoto sonsing for mana!,ing the cc-untrp's
land aid wttor resources. Durin# the lest decade, manaters, planners,
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ar.d scient.iats Within the various $uteeos of the LeTartment have learned
to use dt-s from Landsat by employint a ;.alancc6 approach, combining
remotely sensed data from sstellite and alroraft with other forms of
topographic arid cartographic date and with ground verifications. Lendsat
data, in combination with other types of data, have been used to support
tsologic scalytos, hydrologic aeeess4-entc, land cover a-eppscg, image
tapping, and applications research,
For exMp:e, Landsat and di51ta1 olovatloz, data, have been used to
mLke land cover clanaificatior.t for about 130 ni111on acres of &la.aka
lards, Participants in this proEraa includ4 the U.S: Geological Survey
(CSCS), Bureau of Land Ksr.atrawttt (FLA), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(USFrS), U.S, Forest 6ervice (OEFE), and the State of 1-laska. Anotber 60
trillion acres of land are being elas;ifiod this year s.Ad we expect to
coilsts the entire state in the next 3 to 4 yearn. Prior to this tine,
very little land cover info:-atlas tad been available for vast reSloss of
Also ki, These 8ureaua and Agencies are now u.inf, Laadaat data, ea Wk
of a dititsl data bare, for a variety of applicetiona. Data bases have
been developed for arny of the National Wildlife Refugee, where they are
used for Refi4e plannint in response to the Alaska national interest
Lando Conservation Let of 1980. other applicationtr include entinosrinb
and water resource planning on tbo North Slope, end wildfire supprt5SLOD
planning on public lands.
Interior Bureaus are Actively usint LaAdeat data in their operational
ae well a.s.reeeercb programs. Several Bureaus bava facilities and
trained staff devoted to the analysis of re toly sensed data (includinS
f
L4ndaat) And other earth science data. Selected locations include USG
(Belton, Virgini*; Denver, Colorado; Flagetaff, KrisoAt; Sioux Fa11e,
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vtith i'akrte; Menlo Park, California; and Anchorate, A1sek.el, BU
.Danvar, Colorado; and Anchortfe, A1eL::a), USF'dS (Ft. Collins. Colorado;
.Sjide'll, Louisiana; St. Petereburb, Florida;
and Anchore5e, klaaka)1 )FS
(Denver, Colorado), and Bureau of ReclLnAt Of (Denver, Colorado). Other
Bureaus and tansies a.e using these facilities as well es the.eervices
of the privato rector to teat and iucpltmont the use?of LandBat technology.
interior's comitment to fostering the use of resists ;ensing was
ccrFolidatsd in 1966 by the foreAtion of.tbe Earth Resources Observation
Systems (EROS) Program. Under the guidance of the staff of this
~.~; a,-t.mecta1 activity. awareness of potaibilitles of aircraft tat.
eatollito rr:mote sensing was iacrttsed in the Depart.mont, s
tcleptiate and uaoat$rs $elped in the eonctptual design of the first
Barth Resources Teehuolot-y 5tte11ite,'EYTS?l (now know as Ltnd1tt U.
Tit EROS Data Center wt$ established in Fioux calla, South DBlCota, at the
baEirnint of the I..andeat prcgrSm to serve as a national center to
process, archive, aqd distribute Landtat products to users. This role it
toe Landeat program bettn as a cooperative effort with the National
Uror.autiCe and Spat* Ldministration (WA) and continues todai Kith to
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adainietratioa (i?OAA) that cow ban
management responsibility for the operat3 onal aspects of the Landaht
program. The Data Ctnter's continvia, association with the Landsat
program is ciao demotstrated by its active contacts with foreign landaat
ground receiving stations and international remote $enainE protrt *
At the time that the #xO$ Data Center baban to process and distribute
L,tndsat data in the esr1y 1970'x, the Department made a cc nIt=nt to
develop a.netional capability at the Data Coster for analytinb re7totely
sensed data and tr4psferr1ff this new technology to various protrtm
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eleuents of the Aepartsent.. TH a action was entirely conBiitonL -.-it
and t lotlcal eitenalcn of. t14 FRGS Protrat concept that was forwulsted
In the late 195O't. Over the glare, the EROS Data Cantor's capabilities
for iazato proceBBint. spatial dzta handling, and technoloty transfer brow
rapidly. tSaop cooperative projects were begun with Interior Bureaus, and
specially designed tf$.Tt ng COUriee were offered to Interior and other
Fedora! agency personnel to help spread an under$tandins of the potential
uses of rts,ete seaaint tecbDOlo . Active participation by EROS
peravncfl helped several Bureaus to establisb sates of the Departtxeat'B
re ate 2:n:1r.b/ditita1 data aval;-Ois centers that I mentioned earlier.
R2O;; tcientiste ccntinu?-to cooperate with Bureau personnel to develop
and impls.-bent new tochnalc y.
At the present time, the Center has over 300 employees (a combination
of Gover nt and cantractor personnel), with lase thin one-fourtb of
tbsse directly identifiable to le-ndeat data ba.ndlint and procenaics. The
Taa3oritp of the individuals who staff the Center'e date bendiiat Rod
distribution activities are abased betwaea NOAA's Lendeat activitiea and
GSGS's airoraft data progres. only 10 to 12 fall-t uts indiYiduelo are
unique to Land.sat operations. Coaputer facilities and phototraphic
proceBBItS equipTnent are also Bbexed between Lendsat and other Center
Rctlvitioa.
if the Center's Landcat processing activity were to be taken over by
a cassetcial iyotem operator, tbero would be an obvious impact on the
Cstlttr`o wort force. However, the Center would continue to eery the
wide variety of Depart sntal functions that It hap addressed for many
years, including 1) gpsctallzed proceBBint Qf Landsat data to meat unique
Interior needs (ima5e appin5, enhanced imager, geographically registered
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? etc.): 2) COCj~6fatlVe eF7pticn~?...~ as te
as Well a: any other digital earth science data Bets; 3) re:bareb and
'oflware deval4j~ment, leodint to more effective ways to manipulat9
d16{tal data and use geoSrephic.Information systems; 6) training and
technolo&Y trerafer; and 5) arehivinE, processing, and distributing
aircraft date products. Because of these ongoing interior functions, it
should be clearly understood that the ERDS Data Center's hardware syste&
will not be available for possible transfer to a coos rcial operator.
We support wording in the lesislatioa that confirm the role of KAL?
140k&, and other Federal agencies to continue land remote sensing resotrch
and dsvelopoent? The Dep.-rtment iateudt to continuo iti reaate causing
raiLB which e.re designed to meet its specific
research and develd;*ent prvE
resource information raquire*ent8, By carefully defining our itfora-atlon
re9u1re:mentB end date needs, we will coatinue to test, evaluate: and
implrcent new approaches to data analytla and applications,
Iaterior Bureaus and Offices ha'a worked actively with data that are
obtained frog new aircraft and satellite aensint ;yst* s including
L&ndeet. We have undsrtsken research end development to understand the
unique cbsracteri s of each sew data type. as well as to .explore ways
that new data can be used to evaluate, inventory, and monitor out
nation's natural resources. For example, wt bays found that the improv*d
spectral resolution of Landeat Tbstaatic Kapper (Ta) data belps Soplagigte
to identify important mineral occurreDeeB that were not reveslod on
landsat Kvltiapectral Scanner (K88) images. As another example, the
increased apatial rosolution of T1S data has peraittod the Geological
Survey to print mere detailed Image maps. The recently released
false-color gatollite image map of the washiniton. D.c, area, printed at
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s scale of 1:100.000 his beet :hewn to octet NttionO! rOP "Cur"
Stin~a-ds, In this way It is compatible with ot.hcr rnep in our national
cap eerier. Other Interior Surotus are discovering that the revolution
of TK data alto permits them to perform mD re detailed inventories of
Federal lands ur.dcr their jurisdiction.
Interior will continue to perform Btudles like these as new data are
Lacerated by future satellite seaalna systems. We plan to use new data
frog both the tag and Tit sensors on Landsat 5, and would hope to use data
provided by e. coeoercial system operator aB defined under Title III of
S 2252, and cQtt from other operators-who obtain licenses to collect
data t.Ader Title IT. lurtbert~ore, foreign sensing systems are being
desi%t,ed with features not offered by Landsat 5 (improved spatial
ro=olt~t!}op, stereo inalinf tap}bilitY; s.ad aicrowtve *pectrtl
sensil:lvity), We will also wUt to wort with data from these % late= to
kelp aerate of the teebnoloSieel benefits offered by these systems.
Bated on our oxperiencts with Landsats It 2, 3, std 4, we believe
very etrongls tbct there is a need for technological iWrovement
throughout the 15601s in sensor deaiSa, data prozeeainI procedures. and
analy.tis tezhnlquos, Tmprovsswnts in spatial resolution and spectral
sensitivity and the availability of stereoscopic coverage are sating the
tacboologtcal advancements needed to ensure incre&Bed utility within the
Department of date from V?S?-sponsored ayste
The Depertmont has made e siSnificapt i0vestmeat in personnel as will
as facilities to use this eaer5lnt technology. Continuity in the
availability of data from Landsat trd follow-on systems is important to
the Depar ment? any of the ?pplicationx of Landsat data are relstivell
new and haVe desmnstrated a cost ss.vin&s over traditional athodt. For
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those applications rocutrint current. (new) data, t dAta top would
probtbly roduee the acceptance of this tochriolc4Y. We have noted that
the transition period specified in ::. 2292 (6 years) is shorter than the
17-year contract period (including the anticipated 3-y9ar lifetime of
Land:at 5) defined to the Co?erco nopartment'e Rtquost for Proposals for
Transfer of the U.S. Lend Remote 6enainf Program to the Private Sector.
we hope that your co=nies will cerefolly coasidar the most appropriate
transition period so that the opportunity for successful
ccs*arcializatioa can be aaz:alzed.
We fully abreo with the clan::ee le' the proposed legislation wbicb
support the right of all nations to acquire land rssot? sensing data of
any site on the Barth, so lcnb as sucb date are made available to all
potential users on a nondi;cr1as4nator1 baBis. Any policy other than
"open skies". and aondiscrizainatory data diI$eminotioo would be ooftrary
to the lony.etandinb tradition of the United States regarding the ezcba.6?
of scientific and tectnolaglc information with other nations of the world.
A tranelticn resulting in total c erciallzatlou should logically
include 1. Strout and viable value-added services industry is the private
sector. The beptr tent of the interior is snort, tbost who currently draw
upon this industry for enhanced producte and apeeialized analytical
services. Conaequantly, we are encouraged that the proposed legislation
attempts to ensure that possible unfair coaopetitive advantages by the
eventual ovruer/cp-orator of the satellite system be eliminated. To ensure
the hibhost level of eoapetitlon and effectiveaesa. with the services
industry, each participant =st have direct, timely, and equal access to
the satellite data as they bacons available,
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? l~CCho~rmin~nao ~vn~^---- -~
th* oppcrtunltY to be hero todoY, and 1 would be happy to "awOT any
?autotlor,t at this time.
S
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