Bobby Jindal’s ‘Volcano Monitoring’ Figures Were Way Wrong
An interview with Richard Wunderman, volcanologist and museum specialist for the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History: Science Club: Rick Wunderman.
DCist: As I’m sure you’ve heard, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, in his response to President Barack Obama’s congressional address, singled out a $140 million appropriation for the U.S. Geological Survey as shall-we-say suspect spending. Can you tell me a bit about this appropriation?
Dr. Wunderman: Most of it I know just from talking to colleagues. The number was an order of magnitude too big compared to volcano monitoring. That number was for all kinds of other things as well. That’s only one mistake. …
Some of that appropriation—you said it’s an order of magnitude lesser, so, call it $14 million that goes toward volcano research?
I actually heard it was $9 million. Meeting with colleagues from the USGS, they told me it was nine. On the order of an order of magnitude less than the $140 million.
