AccuWeather.com Exclusive Feature
Protecting Your Access to Weather Information
Background
The National Weather Service (NWS) was created by an Act of Congress in 1890. Congress has been working for a decade to develop a new NWS governing policy.
Three bills are now being considered by Congress to restructure the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which was created by Executive Order under President Nixon.
A bill drafted by NOAA and recently sent to Capitol Hill would create an Organic Act for NOAA and essentially dissolve the National Weather Service as a distinct agency and integrate it within NOAA, possibly as “NOAA’s Weather Service,” diluting its focus.
A second bill, H. R. 50, would also create an Organic Act for NOAA, and recognizes the National Weather Service as an agency within NOAA, but without a well-defined mission.
The third bill, S. B. 786, introduced by Senator Santorum of Pennsylvania, would recognize and continue the National Weather Service as a distinct agency, revising and modernizing its 1890 Organic Act.
S. B. 786 Guarantees Unfettered Public Access
Of the three pieces of legislation now before Congress, S. B. 786 is the only bill that would guarantee unfettered public access to “all data, guidance, forecasts, and warnings received, collected, created, or prepared by NOAA or NWS.” (Sec.2.(c)(1))
Additionally, it would continue the current methods of distribution of this information (1) through data portals for large volume users and (2) to the public using the methods as determined by the Commerce Department under existing federal law, including the Internet, as is now the case. (Sec.2.(c)(2))
Opponents of the bill have asserted that the under the bill, control of government data and information would be shifted to the Commercial Weather Industry and that citizens would have to pay twice for the data and information. This is false.
In fact, S. B. 786 is the only bill before Congress that specifically requires the data be released to the public in real time.
Without S. B. 786, no one can point to a specific requirement in federal law that weather information be released to the public in real time. Nothing prevents the NWS or NOAA (if NWS is absorbed into NOAA) from bottling up the information, as it has done on various occasions, releasing some information and failing or refusing to release other information.
S. B. 786 Reestablishes NWS’s Previously Existing Non-Compete Policy
S. B. 786 reestablishes the NWS’s own non-competition policy, which NWS has had in effect, in one form or another, for over 55 years. (Sec.2.(b))
That policy, repealed by NOAA in December 2004, has been the underlying support for the growth in the Commercial Weather Industry in the United States. That policy has led to free and widely available weather products and services for the public through all forms of media, including cable weather channels, television weather presenters, newspaper weather pages, radio weather personalities, and an explosion of private sector weather and portal web sites. It is estimated that 85 to 95 percent of the weather information reaching the public comes from the Commercial Weather Industry.
That policy is also what has led to the development of specialized weather services at reasonable prices tailored to the needs of business, industry, agriculture, transportation, emergency management, government and many other applications. These services have greatly enhanced the efficiency of weather-affected operations nationwide. It is estimated by the government that almost a third of the economy is affected by weather and the Commercial Weather Industry is the primary source relied on for weather information within that part of the economy.
In November 2004, the House and Senate, with bipartisan support, jointly adopted a position similar to S. B. 786 in regard to non-competition in the provision of weather services. (Conference Report to H.R. 4818) S. B. 786 is also in line with the new national policy on space transportation which states that the government must “refrain from conducting activities with commercial applications that preclude, deter, or compete with U.S. commercial space transport activities…”
The Bill Requires NWS Information to be Fully Available to the Public
Some have attacked S. B. 786 with the argument that it would place control of federally collected data within the hands of the private sector and cause American citizens to have to pay twice for data, information and forecasts that the government collects and generates. This is false. The bill, for the first time in history, would legislatively require all NOAA/NWS information produced to be fully available to the public directly from the agency. (Sec.2.(c)(1))
In fact, S. B. 786 is the only bill pending that requires NOAA/NWS information to be “issued in real time, without delay, in a manner that ensures that all members of the public have opportunity for simultaneous and equal access.” (Sec.2.(c)(1))
No such requirement currently exists and NOAA/NWS currently can, and sometimes does, delay and withhold information from the public and the Commercial Weather Industry, including the media. Among the information sometimes withheld are real-time snowfall accumulation reports, cooperative observer reports, hurricane reconnaissance reports, and other critical information. Withholding such information can endanger lives and property.
The Bill Provides for the Widest Possible Distribution of Information
Some have said S. B. 786 would prohibit information being made available on the Internet by government. This is false. The bill envisions the widest possible distribution and has no restriction relating to the Internet.
The Bill Causes the NWS to Focus on Its Core Mission of Saving Lives and Property
S. B. 786 requires the National Weather Service to focus on a core mission, including protection of the public through a mandated requirement of providing severe weather forecasts and warnings for the protection of life and property. (Sec.2.(a)(1))
The Bill Brings the NWS in Line with Federal Requirements for Other Agencies
Lastly, S. B. 786 brings NOAA/NWS into line with the rules that apply to other federal agencies, by requiring uniform release to the nation of “any weather data, information, guidance, forecast or warning that might influence or affect the market value of any product, service, commodity, tradable, or business…,” and at the same time prohibiting individual government employees from providing specialized personal or “insider” agency information to some citizens and not to others. (Sec.2.(d))
This would, for example, prohibit NWS employees from providing information, except through full, timely public release, which might influence money and market transactions. Such employees are already prohibited from investing in weather futures by Commerce Department letter policy, because of these concerns.
The interests of the public and the Commercial Weather Industry are aligned on all of these issues.
Click here to read a press release from the Commercial Weather Services Association