Murkowski calls for national volcano monitoring

WASHINGTON (AP) — As Alaska's Mount Redoubt sends a steady stream of ash skyward, the state's Republican senator is calling for a national volcano monitoring system to ensure early warnings of volcanic activity.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski said the Mount Redoubt eruptions, which have forced flight cancellations at Anchorage International Airport 100 miles away, underscore the need for more and better volcano observation.
She also took a shot at fellow Republicans, including Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Arizona Sen. John McCain, who have criticized President Barack Obama's economic stimulus bill for spending $140 million on volcano monitoring.
"Recently there were some comments made about federal spending for volcano monitoring being wasteful," Murkowski said in a Senate speech. "I can assure you that monitoring volcanoes is critically important to the nation and especially to my home state of Alaska."
In giving the Republican response to Obama's Feb. 24 address to Congress, Jindal said parts of the federal stimulus package were "larded with wasteful spending." He cited $140 million "for something called 'volcano monitoring.' Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, D.C."
As the governor of a hurricane-prone state that benefits from extensive federal spending on weather monitoring and other programs, Jindal was widely derided for his comments. Weeks later, Redoubt began to erupt.
McCain listed volcano monitoring as an example of questionable spending in a lengthy critique of the stimulus bill, which authorized money to help rebuild and repair facilities run by the U.S. Geological Survey, including "seismic and volcano monitoring systems."
Jindal's spokeswoman, Melissa Sellers, said Tuesday that the governor wasn't criticizing volcano monitoring in his speech but cited it as an example of stimulus spending that was not about creating jobs.
"Whether or not money for volcano monitoring is important, and if so how much, is a legitimate issue for Congress to debate," she said. "But it has nothing to do with a stimulus bill. Failure to understand this is exactly what is wrong with Washington."
The U.S. Geological Survey and its university and state partners operate five volcanic observatories, including the Alaska Volcano Observatory in Anchorage and Fairbanks. The others are in Washington state, Hawaii, Yellowstone National Park and California.
Murkowski's legislation would establish a nationwide early warning system within USGS to monitor, warn and protect people from volcanic activity. The legislation would authorize $15 million a year to fund the system.
Murkowski said the Alaska observatory has been consistently underfunded since it opened in 1988, after an eruption of Alaska's Mount Augustine. The site monitors more than 30 active volcanoes, by far the busiest observatory in the world.
Even so, its modest annual budget is supplemented by earmarks obtained by Alaska lawmakers. Former Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, secured about $5 million for the observatory in recent years, but future funding is not guaranteed.
Murkowski said her legislation would set up a dedicated funding source for all five volcano observatories and better coordinate volcano monitoring nationally. She plans to introduce it this week.

Olo'upena Falls, United States

Olo'upena Falls, United States:

The fourth-highest waterfall in the world, Olo'upena Falls, is located in the united states, but you'd have to go out of your way to visit it -- it's located on the remote Hawaiian island of Molokai, known and celebrated as the "most Hawaiian island" because of its history of relative isolation.
Many people have never seen or heard of the Olo'upena Falls, and most waterfall enthusiasts who have gathered information about the falls have only done so through aerial photographs. Surrounded by huge mountains on either side, the waterfall doesn't have much water running through it -- its volume is extremely thin compared to the other falls on this list -- but it makes up for a lack of water with its massive height. At 2,953 feet (900 meters), the falls stand high above most other waterfalls in the United States; the closest ones are Pu'uka'oku Falls (2,756 feet/840 meters) and Waihilau Falls (2,600 feet/792 meters), both of which are also located in Hawaii.Olo'upena Falls is tiered and would most likely be classified as a ribbon waterfall because of its extremely thin appearance.

Three Sisters Falls, Peru:

Peru gets another spot on the list with the Three Sisters Falls (Cataratas las Tres Hermanas) in the country's Ayacucho region. This one is just as remote ­as the previous Olo'upena Falls -- its existence only really came to light while photographs for another tall Peruvian waterfall, Catarata Parijaro (877 feet/267 meters), were being taken.The waterfall is called the Three Sisters because of its three separate tiers. Two of the top tiers are visible from the air, and the water drops into a large basin of sorts where a third plunge emerges. The falls are nearly completely surrounded by forests, and trees around the Three Sisters Falls reach as high as 100 feet. The falls' height reaches about 3,000 feet (914 meters). For comparison, speculators believe the world's tallest free-standing structure, the Burj Dubai, will reach only 2,275 feet (693 meters) after it's finished in late 2008.