House Science Panel to Investigate Hurricane Dorian Forecast Controversy

The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology has launched an inquiry into the Commerce Department’s involvement in National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) actions to support President Trump’s claim that Hurricane Dorian would impact Alabama. This is the third probe to be initiated on the matter. Democratic leaders of the House Science panel have asked Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for detailed information as well as a briefing with NOAA employees about the agency’s actions around the President’s false claims. “It appears that in an attempt to support President Donald Trump’s incorrect tweet asserting that Alabama would be ‘hit (much) harder than anticipated’ by Hurricane Dorian, Commerce officials may have taken a number of steps to pressure NOAA into supporting the President’s actions,” stated Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) and Representative Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), Chairwoman of the House Science Subcommittee on Investigation and Oversight, in a letter to Secretary Ross. The letter followed a report by The New Your Times, which suggested that the President pressured White House aides to have NOAA publicly correct forecasters at the Birmingham office of the National Weather Service (NWS), who contradicted him by insisting that Alabama was not actually at risk from Hurricane Dorian. NOAA then issued an unsigned statement saying the Birmingham NWS office was wrong to refute t...
Source: Public Policy Reports - Category: Biology Authors: Source Type: news