"Would Trump Privatize Weather Forecasting? What To Know."

"Project 2025 proposes breaking up the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the parent agency for the National Weather Service, describing it as “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry.”"

"Among the stakes in the upcoming U.S. elections: Weather forecasts, who delivers them and what they say about links between extreme conditions and climate change.

A conservative proposal drafted by the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 has ignited an intense debate this month by proposing that a Republican administration privatize weather forecasting now done by government agencies. The plan would break up the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the parent agency for the National Weather Service, describing it as “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry.” Meanwhile, a separate Republican proposal introduced in the House last year calls for transforming NOAA into an independent agency akin to NASA, a plan critics say could expose it to political influence.

Even as Donald Trump’s campaign has said it had no part in Project 2025, it’s widely seen as a blueprint for a possible second Trump administration. Private weather companies have not endorsed the calls for “commercializing” Weather Service data. Still, as the prospects of a second Trump presidency rise, meteorologists and climate scientists are voicing concern over what these proposals would mean for the millions of people they are working to inform and protect."

Scott Dance reports for the Washington Post July 22, 2024.

 

Source: Washington Post, 07/23/2024