The committee agreed that a large-scale testing facility could produce potentially useful information, but it identified several alternative ways to produce the information. It concluded that a research facility constructed specifically for this purpose would be an extremely costly method of producing data that would have only limited value in actually reducing extreme-wind hazards.
Federal funds are the only sources of funding for testing programs and facility maintenance.
The committee concluded that the resources proposed for the HomeSaver project would be better used to establish a national wind hazard reduction program. A coordinated national program is needed to identify and implement the critical actions that must be taken to reduce losses from extreme winds. The Subcommittee on Natural Disaster Reduction, an interagency working group of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, met in May to discuss such a program. Prudent stewardship of limited resources requires wise and efficient allocation of funds. Wind hazard reduction would best be accomplished through development of a national program, not construction of a single, expensive facility of limited technical value.