U.S. House members who represent parts of Snohomish County want that to change. They’re urging colleagues to free up more federal dollars for landslide research following the March 22 Oso disaster that claimed at least 41 lives.
U.S. Reps. Suzan DelBene, Rick Larsen and Jim McDermott on Thursday sent a letter to key colleagues asking them to nearly triple the budget for the U.S. Geological Survey’s Landslide Hazards Program. That would boost funding to $10 million, from about $3.5 million now.
“It is the smallest and least-funded of all of the natural hazards programs within the U.S. Geological Survey,” DelBene said. “Ten million dollars may not be enough, but it’s definitely a start.”
The same letter seeks to boost federal support for mapping using technology known as Light Distance and Ranging, or LIDAR. While the USGS, in theory, has about $300 million for LIDAR surveys, in practice only about 10 percent of it gets spent.
“Experts from around the country agree that it’s the best available technology to map landslide hazards,” DelBene said.
