They are trying to remove your weather access

Matt" wrote:
They way I look at it is our taxes go to the government to
pay for such services. We shouldn't have to pay twice.


Exactly so. It's obviously a sweetheart deal for the weather venders. In any
case, I wrote to both of my U.S. senators today about this ill-advised
legislation to express my disapproval. Wrote them... not emailed. If I go to
the trouble of writing them, I'll get a reply in the mail. That doesn't always
happen with emails.

Have any of you gone to the trouble of writing? This should be important to all
of us.




--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN

VE

On Sat, 23 Apr 2005 00:38:21 GMT, "Mortimer Schnerd, RN"
wrote:

Matt" wrote:
They way I look at it is our taxes go to the government to
pay for such services. We shouldn't have to pay twice.


Exactly so. It's obviously a sweetheart deal for the weather venders. In any
case, I wrote to both of my U.S. senators today about this ill-advised
legislation to express my disapproval. Wrote them... not emailed. If I go to
the trouble of writing them, I'll get a reply in the mail. That doesn't always
happen with emails.

Have any of you gone to the trouble of writing? This should be important to all
of us.

When's the vote? Snail-mail (rather than fax) might not get there
through the screenings before a vote.

"Mortimer Schnerd, RN" wrote in message
. com...
Matt" wrote:

Have any of you gone to the trouble of writing? This should be important
to all of us.



My senator has a notice right on his web site that regular mail can have
quite a delay
these days and email or fax will be faster.

"Dylan Smith" wrote in message
...
You might want to write to Rick Santorum and tell him why this is such a
bad idea:


http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/co...21/m1a_wx_0421
..html

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. This will only have adverse safety
implications for general aviation. Apparently, the Australian experience
of removing free weather access has been a string of weather-related
accidents.

You can write to Santorum he
Santorum, Rick- (R - PA) Class I
511 DIRKSEN
SENATE OFFICE BUILDING
WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6324

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

Sounds like another case of the R's trying to privatize everything or
working it so that the only groups that benefit from government services are
companies that can turn around and charge us to get what they got for free.

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