After an investigation into Bill Proenza's management of the National Hurricane Center, Lautenbacher removed him as Director on July 9, 2007.
In September 2007, he was returned to his old job at the southern region of the National Weather Service.
Proenza had drawn criticism from colleagues for calling the eight-year-old QuickSCAT system outdated.
After the unauthorized killing of a gray whale by members of the Makah Indian tribe in September 2007, Lautenbacher met with tribal leaders to discuss the issue.
He collaborated with other federal agencies on a new program to track volcanic ash and report the risks to the aviation community.

During Lautenbacher's tenure, the Open Rivers Initiative was started to provide funding and technical expertise for the community-driven removal of obsolete small dam and river barriers.
According to the NOAA, over 3,500 large dams in the U.S. were considered unsafe in 2007.
On the subject of the Bush administration's plan to expand the tsunami warning and detection system, Lautenbacher has said that the need for more buoys is critical, because their sensors measure passing tsunamis, whereas tide gauges measure changing water levels close to the coast.

Lautenbacher has rejected scientific claims that climate change is the greatest challenge facing humankind this century.
In a November 2002 interview for the Australian television show Lateline, he said that evidence gathered so far fails to convince the US that extreme weather being felt around the globe is a direct result of climate change.
In December 2004, he called the decline in health among coral reefs a global issue, essential to life on Earth.
After an investigation into Bill Proenza's management of the National Hurricane Center, Lautenbacher removed him as Director on July 9, 2007. In September 2007, he was returned to his old job at the southern region of the National Weather Service. Proenza had drawn criticism from colleagues for calling the eight-year-old QuickSCAT system outdated. After the unauthorized killing of a gray whale by members of the Makah Indian tribe in September 2007, Lautenbacher met with tribal leaders to discuss the issue. He collaborated with other federal agencies on a new program to track volcanic ash and report the risks to the aviation community.
During Lautenbacher's tenure, the Open Rivers Initiative was started to provide funding and technical expertise for the community-driven removal of obsolete small dam and river barriers. According to the NOAA, over 3,500 large dams in the U.S. were considered unsafe in 2007. On the subject of the Bush administration's plan to expand the tsunami warning and detection system, Lautenbacher has said that the need for more buoys is critical, because their sensors measure passing tsunamis, whereas tide gauges measure changing water levels close to the coast.
Lautenbacher has rejected scientific claims that climate change is the greatest challenge facing humankind this century. In a November 2002 interview for the Australian television show Lateline, he said that evidence gathered so far fails to convince the US that extreme weather being felt around the globe is a direct result of climate change. In December 2004, he called the decline in health among coral reefs a global issue, essential to life on Earth.
Conrad C. Lautenbacher