Senate Bill S.786 could kill NWS internet weather products

"Dude" wrote:


This seems to be the crux of the issue to me. If the NWS budget a few years
from now could be slashed and/or replaced with less expensive and better
private sources, then I would think this bill is a good idea. No one seems
to be promoting it this way though.

No one is promoting it that way because that is not what the bill is
about. Indeed, even the duplicitous arguments in favor of this bill
from those representing the commercial weather services industry
haven't dared to suggest that the NWS budget would be "slashed" if the
bill were passed. It should be noted, however, that such arguments do
frequently resort to the deceptive "I don't want my tax dollars being
used..." line.

No, the commercial weather industry wants the NWS to continue their
data collection and forecasting duties (as clearly stated in the
bill). They just don't want the NWS to present that data in a
user-friendly form to the public if there is a commercial alternative
(as also clearly stated in the bill). This bill is about cutting the
NWS out of the weather presentation business, and in particular the
Internet weather presentation business, so that the commercial weather
industry can charge, or charge more, for such presentations.

Because it takes only a tiny fraction of the NWS operating budget to
make Internet weather presentations available, this bill would have a
negligible effect on the NWS operating budget.

Flyboy

"Flyboy" wrote in message
...
"Dude" wrote:


This seems to be the crux of the issue to me. If the NWS budget a few
years
from now could be slashed and/or replaced with less expensive and better
private sources, then I would think this bill is a good idea. No one
seems
to be promoting it this way though.

No one is promoting it that way because that is not what the bill is
about. Indeed, even the duplicitous arguments in favor of this bill
from those representing the commercial weather services industry
haven't dared to suggest that the NWS budget would be "slashed" if the
bill were passed. It should be noted, however, that such arguments do
frequently resort to the deceptive "I don't want my tax dollars being
used..." line.

No, the commercial weather industry wants the NWS to continue their
data collection and forecasting duties (as clearly stated in the
bill). They just don't want the NWS to present that data in a
user-friendly form to the public if there is a commercial alternative
(as also clearly stated in the bill). This bill is about cutting the
NWS out of the weather presentation business, and in particular the
Internet weather presentation business, so that the commercial weather
industry can charge, or charge more, for such presentations.

Because it takes only a tiny fraction of the NWS operating budget to
make Internet weather presentations available, this bill would have a
negligible effect on the NWS operating budget.

Flyboy


It seems to me, that you are right. What I do not understand though, is how
anyone outside the weather industry would think this is a good idea? Even
pro market, and pro privatization (I do not believe the two are the same,
though the supporters seem to all line up and on the same sides) should be
skeptical of this bill.

One would have to take Matt B's type position to be for this. That would
have to be one based on markets at any costs, and markets are always better
stance. As a matter of fact, they would be better off not passing this one
either, as it is sure to be used against them as a bad example when
something more wothwhile comes up.

Exactly. Our tax dollars will continue to fund the NWS to do the
"heavy lifting" of data acquisition and interpretation. The weather
companies would profit from this at our expense.

-Jim