LAUTENBERG, MENENDEZ ANNOUNCE NEARLY $4 MILLION FOR CLIMATE RESEARCH PROGRAMS AT PRINCETON

NEWARK, N.J. – U.S. Sens. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) today announced that the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has awarded more than $4 million in federal funds to Princeton University for its climate research programs.  The funds will be used to help predict future climate trends the impacts of those trends.

“Our changing climate poses a real environmental, economic and national security threat to the country.  Understanding these changes in our climate is a vital part of taking real action to reverse global warming.  Princeton University has a history of doing innovate climate research.  These funds will keep the university—and New Jersey—leading the way,” Sen. Lautenberg said.

Sen. Menendez said, “Our planet is in peril, and that not only has affected our quality of life, our wallets and our security, but it will even more adversely affect the lives of our children.  These funds will help Princeton stay at the forefront of the research that will help us leave a more stable planet to future generations.”

The nearly $4 million in federal money is broken into two separate grants:

• $3,791,921 for Princeton’s Cooperative Institute of Climate Science (CICS); and

• $139,485 to improve climate predictions by reducing uncertainties about the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

The CICS was founded in 2003 to foster research collaborations between Princeton University and the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) at NOAA.  The goal of the CICS is to be a world leader in understanding and predicting climate and the relationship between people and the environment, and in training the next generation to deal with these issues.

Since May, Sens. Lautenberg and Menendez have announced more than $5.7 million for environmental, coastal and ocean research in New Jersey.