They are trying to remove your weather access

Dylan Smith wrote:

Essentially, Accuweather has paid Sen. Rick Santorum to put this bill
through the Senate, to force the NWS/NOAA to take a great amount of its
freely available weather offline.

I spent a fair amount of time last night trying to locate a copy of the bill.
Couldn't even locate the bill number. If the language used in the article you
referenced is correct, however, the NWS would not be able to provide info to
Accuweather either. A lot of the NWS could effectively be disbanded; it wouldn't
have to do anything that a private company also does.

George Patterson
There's plenty of room for all of God's creatures. Right next to the
mashed potatoes.

On Sat, 23 Apr 2005 19:23:36 GMT, George Patterson
wrote:

Dylan Smith wrote:

Essentially, Accuweather has paid Sen. Rick Santorum to put this bill
through the Senate, to force the NWS/NOAA to take a great amount of its
freely available weather offline.

I spent a fair amount of time last night trying to locate a copy of the bill.
Couldn't even locate the bill number. If the language used in the article you
referenced is correct, however, the NWS would not be able to provide info to
Accuweather either. A lot of the NWS could effectively be disbanded; it wouldn't
have to do anything that a private company also does.

http://santorum.senate.gov/public/in...TOKEN=48522178

On Sat, 23 Apr 2005 20:07:41 GMT, Nathan Young
wrote:

On Sat, 23 Apr 2005 19:23:36 GMT, George Patterson
wrote:

Dylan Smith wrote:

Essentially, Accuweather has paid Sen. Rick Santorum to put this bill
through the Senate, to force the NWS/NOAA to take a great amount of its
freely available weather offline.

I spent a fair amount of time last night trying to locate a copy of the bill.
Couldn't even locate the bill number. If the language used in the article you
referenced is correct, however, the NWS would not be able to provide info to
Accuweather either. A lot of the NWS could effectively be disbanded; it wouldn't
have to do anything that a private company also does.

http://santorum.senate.gov/public/in...TOKEN=48522178

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:s786:

On Sat, 23 Apr 2005 20:09:42 GMT, Nathan Young
wrote in
::

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:s786:


Many thanks for that link. Here's the bill in PDF format:
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-...86is.tx t.pdf

And here's the (rather poorly formatted) text:



II

(Star Print)
109TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION S. 786
To clarify the duties and responsibilities of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric
Administration and the National Weather Service, and for other
purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
APRIL 14, 2005
Mr. SANTORUM introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
A BILL
To clarify the duties and responsibilities of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National
Weather Service, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Weather 4
Services Duties Act of 2005’’. 5
2
•S 786 IS1S
SEC. 2. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF NATIONAL OCE- 1
ANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION 2
AND NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE. 3
(a) NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.—To protect life 4
and property, the Secretary of Commerce shall, through 5
the National Weather Service, be responsible for the fol- 6
lowing: 7
(1) The preparation and issuance of severe 8
weather forecasts and warnings designed for the 9
protection of life and property of the general public. 10
(2) The preparation and issuance of 11
hydrometeorological guidance and core forecast in- 12
formation. 13
(3) The collection and exchange of meteorolog- 14
ical, hydrological, climatic, and oceanographic data 15
and information. 16
(4) The provision of reports, forecasts, warn- 17
ings, and other advice to the Secretary of Transpor- 18
tation and other persons pursuant to section 44720 19
of title 49, United States Code. 20
(5) Such other duties and responsibilities as the 21
Secretary shall specify. 22
(b) COMPETITION WITH PRIVATE SECTOR.—The 23
Secretary of Commerce shall not provide, or assist other 24
entities in providing, a product or service (other than a 25
3
•S 786 IS1S
product or service described in subsection (a)(1)) that is 1
or could be provided by the private sector unless— 2
(1) the Secretary determines that the private 3
sector is unwilling or unable to provide such product 4
or service; or 5
(2) the United States Government is obligated 6
to provide such product or service under inter- 7
national aviation agreements to provide meteorolog- 8
ical services and exchange meteorological informa- 9
tion. 10
(c) ISSUANCE OF DATA, FORECASTS, AND WARN- 11
INGS.— 12
(1) IN GENERAL.—All data, information, guid- 13
ance, forecasts, and warnings received, collected, cre- 14
ated, or prepared by the National Oceanic and At- 15
mospheric Administration or the National Weather 16
Service shall, to the maximum extent practicable, be 17
issued in real time, and without delay for internal 18
use, in a manner that ensures that all members of 19
the public have the opportunity for simultaneous and 20
equal access to such data, information, guidance, 21
forecasts, and warnings. 22
(2) MODE OF ISSUANCE.—Data, information, 23
guidance, forecasts, and warnings shall be issued 24
under paragraph (1) through a set of data portals 25
4
•S 786 IS1S
designed for volume access by commercial providers 1
of products or services and by such other mecha- 2
nisms as the Secretary of Commerce considers ap- 3
propriate for purposes of that paragraph. 4
(d) PROHIBITION ON CERTAIN DISCLOSURES.—An 5
officer, employee, or agent of the National Oceanic and 6
Atmospheric Administration, the National Weather Serv- 7
ice, or any other department or agency of the United 8
States who by reason of that status comes into possession 9
of any weather data, information, guidance, forecast, or 10
warning that might influence or affect the market value 11
of any product, service, commodity, tradable, or business 12
may not— 13
(1) willfully impart, whether directly or indi- 14
rectly, such weather data, information, guidance, 15
forecast, or warning, or any part thereof, before the 16
issuance of such weather data, information, guid- 17
ance, forecast, or warning to the public under sub- 18
section (c); or 19
(2) after the issuance of such weather data, in- 20
formation, guidance, forecast, or warning to the 21
public under subsection (c), willfully impart com- 22
ments or qualifications on such weather data, infor- 23
mation, guidance, forecast, or warning, or any part 24
5
•S 786 IS1S
thereof, to the public, except pursuant to an 1
issuance that complies with that subsection. 2
(e) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 90 days after the 3
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Com- 4
merce shall prescribe regulations to implement the provi- 5
sions of this section. 6
(f) PRODUCT OR SERVICE DEFINED.—In this sec- 7
tion, the term ‘‘product or service’’ means a product, serv- 8
ice, device, or system that provides, senses, or commu- 9
nicates meteorological, hydrological, climatic, solar, or 10
oceanographic data, forecasts, or other similar informa- 11
tion. 12
(g) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The provisions of this sec- 13
tion (other than subsection (e)) shall take effect 90 days 14
after the date of the enactment of this Act. 15
(h) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The Act of Octo- 16
ber 1, 1890 (26 Stat. 653) is amended as follows: 17
(1) Section 3 (15 U.S.C. 313) is repealed. 18
(2) Section 9 (15 U.S.C. 317) is amended by 19
striking ‘‘, and it shall be’’ and all that follows and 20
inserting a period. 21
6
•S 786 IS1S
SEC. 3. REPORT ON MODIFICATION OF NATIONAL OCEANIC 1
AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION AND 2
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ACTIVITIES. 3
(a) REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after the date 4
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce 5
shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress 6
a report that sets forth— 7
(1) a detailed statement of the activities, if any, 8
of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis- 9
tration and the National Weather Service that are 10
inconsistent with the provisions of section 2; 11
(2) a schedule for the modification of the activi- 12
ties referred to in paragraph (1) in order to conform 13
such activities to the provisions of section 2; and 14
(3) the regulations prescribed under section 15
2(e). 16
(b) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CONGRESS DE- 17
FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate commit- 18
tees of Congress’’ means— 19
(1) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 20
Transportation of the Senate; and 21
(2) the Committee on Science of the House of 22
Representatives. 23
Æ

Nathan Young wrote:

http://santorum.senate.gov/public/in...TOKEN=48522178

Great! That got me the name, and a little work with Yahoo! turned that into this.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:s786:

Which clearly states --

"(c) ISSUANCE OF DATA, FORECASTS, AND WARNINGS-

(1) IN GENERAL- All data, information, guidance, forecasts, and warnings
received, collected, created, or prepared by the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration or the National Weather Service shall, to the maximum
extent practicable, be issued in real time, and without delay for internal use,
in a manner that ensures that all members of the public have the opportunity for
simultaneous and equal access to such data, information, guidance, forecasts,
and warnings.

(2) MODE OF ISSUANCE- Data, information, guidance, forecasts, and warnings shall
be issued under paragraph (1) through a set of data portals designed for volume
access by commercial providers of products or services and by such other
mechanisms as the Secretary of Commerce considers appropriate for purposes of
that paragraph."

In other words, the NWS is required to provide everything to commercial
companies as rapidly as possible, and we have to buy it from them. Clear as can be.

George Patterson
There's plenty of room for all of God's creatures. Right next to the
mashed potatoes.

George Patterson wrote:

in a manner that ensures that all members of the public have
the opportunity for simultaneous and equal access to such data,
information, guidance, forecasts, and warnings.

Why doesn't this protect our access?

- Andrew

Andrew Gideon wrote:
George Patterson wrote:


in a manner that ensures that all members of the public have
the opportunity for simultaneous and equal access to such data,
information, guidance, forecasts, and warnings.


Why doesn't this protect our access?

Because of the "mode of issuance" section which follows that. It states that the
data is to be provided to commercial companies, not directly to us.

George Patterson
There's plenty of room for all of God's creatures. Right next to the
mashed potatoes.

On Sat, 23 Apr 2005 20:35:32 GMT, George Patterson
wrote in okyae.1288$u56.2@trndny09::


In other words, the NWS is required to provide everything to commercial
companies as rapidly as possible, and we have to buy it from them. Clear as can be.


The bill seems to contain an exception for "section 44720 of title 49,
United States Code":


SEC. 2. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF NATIONAL OCEANIC AND
ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION AND NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

(a) NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE- To protect life and property, the
Secretary of Commerce shall, through the National Weather Service,
be responsible for the following:

(4) The provision of reports, forecasts, warnings, and other
advice to the Secretary of Transportation and other persons
pursuant to section 44720 of title 49, United States Code.


Section 44720 of title 49, United States Code is available he
http://straylight.law.cornell.edu/us...0----000-.html


TITLE 49 SUBTITLE VII PART A subpart iii CHAPTER 447 §
44720

§ 44720. Meteorological services


Release date: 2003-08-01

(a) Recommendations.— The Administrator of the Federal Aviation
Administration shall make recommendations to the Secretary of Commerce
on providing meteorological services necessary for the safe and
efficient movement of aircraft in air commerce. In providing the
services, the Secretary shall cooperate with the Administrator and
give complete consideration to those recommendations.
(b) Promoting Safety and Efficiency.— To promote safety and
efficiency in air navigation to the highest possible degree, the
Secretary shall—
(1) observe, measure, investigate, and study atmospheric
phenomena, and maintain meteorological stations and offices, that are
necessary or best suited for finding out in advance information about
probable weather conditions;
(2) provide reports to the Administrator to persons engaged in
civil aeronautics that are designated by the Administrator and to
other persons designated by the Secretary in a way and with a
frequency that best will result in safety in, and facilitating, air
navigation;
(3) cooperate with persons engaged in air commerce in
meteorological services, maintain reciprocal arrangements with those
persons in carrying out this clause, and collect and distribute
weather reports available from aircraft in flight;
(4) maintain and coordinate international exchanges of
meteorological information required for the safety and efficiency of
air navigation;
(5) in cooperation with other departments, agencies, and
instrumentalities of the United States Government, meteorological
services of foreign countries, and persons engaged in air commerce,
participate in developing an international basic meteorological
reporting network, including the establishment, operation, and
maintenance of reporting stations on the high seas, in polar regions,
and in foreign countries;
(6) coordinate meteorological requirements in the United States to
maintain standard observations, to promote efficient use of
facilities, and to avoid duplication of services unless the
duplication tends to promote the safety and efficiency of air
navigation; and
(7) promote and develop meteorological science and foster and
support research projects in meteorology through the use of private
and governmental research facilities and provide for publishing the
results of the projects unless publication would not be in the public
interest.

Larry Dighera wrote:

The bill seems to contain an exception for "section 44720 of title 49,
United States Code":

In other words, we will still be able to use DUATS.

George Patterson
There's plenty of room for all of God's creatures. Right next to the
mashed potatoes.

On Sun, 24 Apr 2005 04:59:04 GMT, George Patterson
wrote in sIFae.142$pc7.104@trndny05::

Larry Dighera wrote:

The bill seems to contain an exception for "section 44720 of title 49,
United States Code":

In other words, we will still be able to use DUATS.


That is a rather restrictive interpretation of the exemption. I would
hope the NWS would continue to provide access to:

Aviation Weather Center http://aviationweather.gov/

The 7-day zone forecast
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/lox/getprod.php?pil=zfp&sid=lox&format=pre.

Observation history
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mesonet/getobext.php?sid=KSBA&num=48&banner=off


I use these a lot before deciding to use DUATS.

The whole bill is an audacious boondoggle. I've written both my
senators.