Proposed 'weather bill' draws concerns and rebuttal reaction

By MINDY POEHL | Central Texas Edition

June 23, 2005 - A Country World article entitled "Watch out for 'real-time' weather heading your way," in its June 9 issue, has received some criticism and feedback.

The article was about Sen. Rick Santorum's (R-Penn.) Senate Bill 786, that he introduced on April 4. Michael Smith, with the Commercial Weather Services Association (CWSA) board of directors, was the only person interviewed in the June 9 article, and Smith spoke favorably about SB 786.

Rebutting Smith's quotes in the article, Dan Sobien, vice president of the National Weather Service employees organization (NWS) said, "What Mike Smith says in the story is not factual. It's a misstatement," Sobien said as he went paragraph-by-paragraph disputing the information in the June 9 article. "This bill will prevent the general public from getting access to weather information. This bill would restrict taxpayers' access for what they are already paying for."

As an example, Sobien said New Braunfels sends out weather balloons twice a day to read and collect information.

"Private companies get that information for free, re-package it and sell it. They (private companies) want to keep the public from seeing that information. They want you to have to pay for it. They don't want you to have access to that information as it comes in," Sobien declared. "They don't want people to go online and get that information. They don't own radars and satellites. That's what this bill does - it says the NWS will keep doing what it does, but will just give that information to companies that will sell the information to the public. It's a bad bill because we're paying for that information."

"They (NWS) are wrong. The bill says what it says and I stand by what I said in the article," Smith remarked. "Right now the NWS has unequal distribution and we want to stop that preferential treatment that they give to certain people."

In the JUNE 9 article, Smith informed readers that "if the bill is passed it would require the NWS to distribute government generated weather information in real-time, and without delay ... in a manner that ensures that all members of the public have the opportunity for simultaneous and equal access." Smith said those requirements do not currently exist.

"They do exist," stated Sobien.

Smith said SB 786 will authorize that the public, including pilots, boaters, and farmers, and the private sector, will all have convenient real-time access to government information. Sobien said that is not true. SB 786 prevents that from occurring.

"People haven't read the bill if they say the NWS can no longer do forecasts," Smith said. "Until two years ago, we got information back in five minutes or less. Right now NWS gives preferential treatment to KMOX in St. Louis. This bill said they cannot hold up the information."

"The article also says that the Tsunami Center was unmanned during the tsunami in December. That is absolutely not true," Sobien said. "The people who work at the tsunami center in Hawaii live at the station."

Sobien explained that the tsunami center workers sleep at the center in Hawaii so when they are alerted by a storm, they must react to the alert in 60 to 90 seconds.

Smith said, "I will stand by that they live at the station, but I do know that the tsunami center was unmanned when the earthquake occurred. No one was there within five minutes. And the tsunami moved at 600 mph. That means it moved 10 miles every minute. The five minutes that no one was in the station means the tsunami moved 50 miles before a warning was sent out. Had the earthquake been in the Pacific Ocean, it would have taken too long."

Sobien said, "They did know the tsunami was coming and they tried hard to get the word out. But, their area of responsibility is the Pacific Ocean. They were able to contact Australia, which had the information on the website minutes later. Other countries had no contacts. They did also get through to Madagascar."

Smith also said during Hurricane Charlie, the hurricane hunter aircraft was in Mexico doing research and the NWS deliberately withheld information for 34 minutes so they could hold a press conference before releasing that information.

"We never delayed the release of the information," Dr. Ed Rappaport with the National Hurricane Center (NHC) commented. "In fact, there is so much misunderstanding about reconnaissance aircraft data that we have posted the responsibilities and highlights of the time line on our website."

The information is available at www.nhc.noaa.gov under responsibilities and timeliness for aircraft reconnaissance and surveillance data.

"The NHC does not disseminate the information. The product is generated and disseminated by a group not in NWS, called CARCAH (Aerial Reconnaissance Coordination All Hurricanes). They (CARCAH) put together the product through quality control and coordinate that with the information from the air crew." Rappaport explained. "I was the lead person on hand during Charlie and we held no such conference. We provided media briefings. I worked a nine-hour shift doing interviews in four minute slots. So, we were in continuous briefing mode."

Smith then asked, "Why did it take three-and-a-half hours to get the information last Saturday during Hurricane Arlene? We got that information instantly in 1985, 1995 and in 2000 and now it's delayed? They (NWS) are going to continue to delay the information."

Sobien refuted, "Mike Smith is going around saying inflammatory things to stir up the pot to get people to vote for the bill. If the bill becomes law, people will die and there will be a severe economic impact to the country. Farming, shipping - you name it - it's weather dependent. The repercussions are enormous."

Sobien then explained how SouthWest Airlines exclusively uses the NWS. Airplanes must decide how much fuel to use, depending on the weather. If a plane is landing in a place that has bad weather, it might need extra fuel in case it needs to land in another place.

"As long as this bill is not pulled, it's a problem. Do I think it will get passed on its merit? No. I know Hutchison supports the NWS. The problem is that Santorum is the No. 3 most powerful senator in the country and he tried to have this bill attached to another bill. My concern is that SB 786 will be attached to a bill that's likely to pass," said Sobien.

"This bill will cause confusion. This is a bad bill and people like Mike Smith will profit greatly from the bill."