Plans finally taking shape
Today, we finally got instructions from NSF USAP on how to deal with our cargo. This has been a huge worry for us as we need our equipment to do our research! Here's a summary of what's been going on from my perspective.
When USAP had to shut down in response to the overall government shutdown, they were in the midst of gearing up for the year-long research season, which includes supporting project like mine, but also laying in the infrastructure to support overwinter research and protect property. It takes all summer to resupply the South Pole station for the coming year, for example.
When USAP had to switch gears for the shutdown, they still had a responsibility to protect life and property on the continent. How does one evaluate what shipments are essential in October to support the South Pole station next July? But even before answering that question, one has to decide which people are essential for making that decision. Can they be kept from furlough? The people with authority to make decisions with very important consequences rarely have the detailed information they need to make the best decisions. In fact, the need to be able to re-plan an entire research season in a few days was so inconceivable that no one likely had the information to make good decisions. It takes months of very detailed planning, scheduling flights, weighing equipment, etc. to get just my small, simple project together. The support for a whole station at the most remote place on Earth's surface is immensely more complicated. And hundreds of millions of dollars of infrastructure resources are at stake!
Needless to say, when USAP scaled back, many things were dropped because there was no one there to do the work. For example, our cargo was listed in some places as still being in California. Once the program restarted, we eventually learned that some of it was on-route to (or already in) Christchurch, NZ. People who update databases are rarely considered essential personnel (although they often are), so during a furlough no one updates the database that says were the cargo is. If the cargo is on a C-17 and that plane needs to fly to Christchurch to support protection of life and property, that cargo is likely to go with it; there won't be anyone to decide to take it off, etc.
When the USAP program restarted, they had to pick up these pieces. Where is that cargo box? Where should it go? They also had to rescheduled everything from people's flights, to lab use, to helicopter hours, to cargo flights. Some projects were "deferred": at least 13 of 77 are not going this year, whereas at least 49 have been rescheduled (USAP Press Release 10/28/13). Those projects that are deferred, don't need their cargo, but the researchers need their equipment back, at least some of it. All the cargo was intertwined in the shipments because it was prioritized on when it was needed and when it arrived at Port Hueneme. When it all needs to get to one place, it doesn't need a hyper refined system. However, once it needs to go different places, everything changes. It is expensive to fly unnecessary cargo, and it would take the place of essential cargo. Someone has to sort it all out. That takes time and human resources, which are always limited for USAP even under the best recent circumstances.
Until yesterday, my project was in limbo. I had offered to defer it because Antarctica NZ offered to support us for the second half of the project and the timing was too tight with the delays to do both the USAP and AntNZ projects well. However, there were a lot of issues within USAP on whether or not to accept my offer or how to implement it. I don't know many of the details; there was almost no communication back to me about what might be decided when or what the considerations were. I did promise not to spend any more of my NASA grant money on the logistics things I have to pick up; I can use other flexible research funds from extra teaching and research jobs. We just heard yesterday that this would be acceptable, and today, we have a plan for the cargo. The boxes that are still in California, we'll get from USAP and send via UPS or FedEx (and come up with the funds to pay for that from somewhere). The cargo that is in Christchurch will continue on in the USAP program to the US McMurdo station, and then most of it will be transferred to New Zealand's Scott Base, which is a couple of miles away.
We now have tickets to get to Christchurch, a plan for the cargo, and things are finally moving. My AntNZ colleague Ian has to redo all of his field planning for us, including filling out support request forms, etc. It will cost his project much more with our current plan. However, we have a lot of good science to do, and it looks like we'll be able to do it.
Thus, things are working out okay, likely even very well. However, the US government shutdown has cost just my research team a month of work. We have spent so much effort trying to recover that we didn't get that much other productive stuff done. When one adds up all the damage the shutdown has done to productivity for the USAP program, it is staggering. Then scale that up to all scientific research in the US and with international collaborations. Then extend it to people's health, then the economy.
I wonder how much the shutdown added to our national debt in lost productivity, economic growth and tax revenue?
When USAP had to shut down in response to the overall government shutdown, they were in the midst of gearing up for the year-long research season, which includes supporting project like mine, but also laying in the infrastructure to support overwinter research and protect property. It takes all summer to resupply the South Pole station for the coming year, for example.
When USAP had to switch gears for the shutdown, they still had a responsibility to protect life and property on the continent. How does one evaluate what shipments are essential in October to support the South Pole station next July? But even before answering that question, one has to decide which people are essential for making that decision. Can they be kept from furlough? The people with authority to make decisions with very important consequences rarely have the detailed information they need to make the best decisions. In fact, the need to be able to re-plan an entire research season in a few days was so inconceivable that no one likely had the information to make good decisions. It takes months of very detailed planning, scheduling flights, weighing equipment, etc. to get just my small, simple project together. The support for a whole station at the most remote place on Earth's surface is immensely more complicated. And hundreds of millions of dollars of infrastructure resources are at stake!
Needless to say, when USAP scaled back, many things were dropped because there was no one there to do the work. For example, our cargo was listed in some places as still being in California. Once the program restarted, we eventually learned that some of it was on-route to (or already in) Christchurch, NZ. People who update databases are rarely considered essential personnel (although they often are), so during a furlough no one updates the database that says were the cargo is. If the cargo is on a C-17 and that plane needs to fly to Christchurch to support protection of life and property, that cargo is likely to go with it; there won't be anyone to decide to take it off, etc.
When the USAP program restarted, they had to pick up these pieces. Where is that cargo box? Where should it go? They also had to rescheduled everything from people's flights, to lab use, to helicopter hours, to cargo flights. Some projects were "deferred": at least 13 of 77 are not going this year, whereas at least 49 have been rescheduled (USAP Press Release 10/28/13). Those projects that are deferred, don't need their cargo, but the researchers need their equipment back, at least some of it. All the cargo was intertwined in the shipments because it was prioritized on when it was needed and when it arrived at Port Hueneme. When it all needs to get to one place, it doesn't need a hyper refined system. However, once it needs to go different places, everything changes. It is expensive to fly unnecessary cargo, and it would take the place of essential cargo. Someone has to sort it all out. That takes time and human resources, which are always limited for USAP even under the best recent circumstances.
Until yesterday, my project was in limbo. I had offered to defer it because Antarctica NZ offered to support us for the second half of the project and the timing was too tight with the delays to do both the USAP and AntNZ projects well. However, there were a lot of issues within USAP on whether or not to accept my offer or how to implement it. I don't know many of the details; there was almost no communication back to me about what might be decided when or what the considerations were. I did promise not to spend any more of my NASA grant money on the logistics things I have to pick up; I can use other flexible research funds from extra teaching and research jobs. We just heard yesterday that this would be acceptable, and today, we have a plan for the cargo. The boxes that are still in California, we'll get from USAP and send via UPS or FedEx (and come up with the funds to pay for that from somewhere). The cargo that is in Christchurch will continue on in the USAP program to the US McMurdo station, and then most of it will be transferred to New Zealand's Scott Base, which is a couple of miles away.
We now have tickets to get to Christchurch, a plan for the cargo, and things are finally moving. My AntNZ colleague Ian has to redo all of his field planning for us, including filling out support request forms, etc. It will cost his project much more with our current plan. However, we have a lot of good science to do, and it looks like we'll be able to do it.
Thus, things are working out okay, likely even very well. However, the US government shutdown has cost just my research team a month of work. We have spent so much effort trying to recover that we didn't get that much other productive stuff done. When one adds up all the damage the shutdown has done to productivity for the USAP program, it is staggering. Then scale that up to all scientific research in the US and with international collaborations. Then extend it to people's health, then the economy.
I wonder how much the shutdown added to our national debt in lost productivity, economic growth and tax revenue?
