Now for the war on volcanoes (Wapo)

[Guest guest]

Now for the war on volcanoes By Dana Milbank

Thursday, April 22, 2010; A02

The enemy struck without warning. It blackened the skies. It grounded our

airplanes. It is believed to have 57 sleeper operations in the United States

capable of exploding at any moment.

Now the time has come to take sides: Are you with us, or are you with the

volcanoes?

On Wednesday, our lawmakers made it clear where they stand. Members of the

Congressional Hazards Caucus -- a group of 16 senators and 21 House members

sworn to fight all " natural and man-made hazards " -- fired the first shot in the

global war on eruption.

If Wednesday's briefing is any indication, they're going to blow the lid off of

this one.

" Volcanic eruptions are a serious threat that our nation seriously needs to

commit resources to combat, " Sen. Murkowski (R-Alaska), a co-chair of the

Hazards Caucus, declared to the experts assembled for a briefing titled

" Reducing Volcano Risks " (refreshments served).

" Volcanoes can really do more than just ruin your day, " the Hazards Caucus

co-chair hazarded. " With 57 believed active volcanoes in America, 169 overall, I

think you can be affected badly. "

The briefing, coinciding with the Icelandic volcano eruption that has foiled air

travel in Europe, was a timely reminder that there is no problem to which

Congress cannot apply itself -- even something as inherently uncontrollable as

volcanoes. You can't bomb them, you can't impose sanctions on them, and our

drones are no match for their cones. But Congress can do to volcanoes what it

does to everything else: It can spend money on them.

Murkowski is proposing a $15 million-a-year National Volcano Early Warning and

Monitoring System, which, she explained, " would more fully fund the

instrumentation of our 20 high-priority volcanoes, establish a 24-hour watch

center. " A volcano watch list! The Alaskan allowed that " we had a little bit of

pushback on the floor by some who suggested that why are we spending money to

monitor volcanoes. " But after Iceland blew its top, " I think we know why we need

to spend money to monitor volcanoes, " she argued.

The Hazards Caucus was created in 2000 by one of the most hazardous public

officials, then-Sen. . and co-founder Ted s are gone

from the Senate, but, as Wednesday's briefing proved, the Hazards Caucus is

still red-hot.

As coffee flowed and the participants munched on bagels and muffins, the

pre-briefing chitchat was a bit different from the usual congressional fare.

" Were you doing volcanology? " a woman asked the man next to her.

" No, " he replied, " I was metamorphic. "

Murkowski got things started with a reference to Eyjafjallajokull, the Icelandic

volcano that has so many people steamed. " We're looking now at what is happening

in Iceland with the eruption of our unpronounceable volcano, " the senator said.

" I'm told it's eye-uh-pop. I can't believe it can be condensed to that easy a

pronunciation. "

Indeed it cannot, Senator. A common phonetic attempt portrays it as

" EYE-a-fyat-la-jo-kutl " but that doesn't quite get all the subtleties.

The volcano, whatever its name is, is causing all kinds of problems. One of the

experts, Murkowski reported, " is stuck in Paris, apparently because of the

volcano. " But the senator bravely announced that " we are going to move ahead

with our event. "

Murkowski shared her own story of volcano fallout: When an eruption by Alaska's

Mount Redoubt shut down travel, her two sons, on spring break, had to spend

extra days at a ski resort. " People back here in Washington really weren't

paying a lot of attention to that, " she said.

Typical Washington: failing to connect the dots.

Tom Murray, from the U.S. Geological Survey, detailed the enemy's strengths. It

is stealthy: " Just because a volcano is quiet today, it may not be tomorrow. " It

catches us when our guard is down: " If you haven't experienced an eruption, your

parents haven't and your grandparents haven't, you tend to forget that volcanoes

can erupt. " It is quick: " The stakes are just too great to be playing catch-up

with a volcano about to erupt. " And it is evil: " We cannot depend that the

volcano will be good to us. "

A representative of United Airlines, Leonard Salinas, found similarities between

volcanoes and the terrorists of 9/11. " Just like the volcano, things happened

very quickly, response times were very short, " he said in response to a question

from the audience. " I may have to divert, I may have to turn around, I may have

to refuel. "

Salinas, in a PowerPoint presentation, outlined a battle plan against the

volcano, including such subject headings as " long term strategic threat

planning " and " pre-tactical eruption planning. "

So can we hit the volcanoes with a preemptive attack to stop them from erupting

on us? " The short answer, " the Geological Survey's Murray answered, " is no. "

Guess we won't be smoking them out of their craters.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/21/AR2010042104718.\

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