Top Commerce Department aides orchestrated NOAA's Hurricane Dorian statement
Source: Washington Post
A letter sent Thursday from the chair of the House Science Committee to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross reveals that it was the Commerce Department, not the leadership of its National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, that drafted a controversial NOAA statement on Sept. 6 that backed President Trump’s false statement about the path of Hurricane Dorian. That statement contradicted NOAA’s own meteorologists at a weather forecast office in Birmingham, Ala.
The unsigned statement has generated at least three investigations, including one by the Science Committee, another by NOAA’s chief scientist, as well as the Commerce Department’s inspector general. The new letter, from Committee Chair Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Tex.), contains previously unknown information about how that statement — which may have violated NOAA’s scientific integrity policy — was written.
Trump wrongly tweeted that Alabama would “most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated" on Sept. 1 even when the state was not within the National Hurricane Center’s “cone of uncertainty” — the zone most likely to be affected. The National Weather Service forecast office in Birmingham, responding to an influx of calls from worried residents in the wake of the president’s tweet, issued a tweet of its own saying Dorian would not affect Alabama. At the time, the NWS’s forecast guidance showed only a very small risk (about 5 percent) of tropical-storm-force winds for a small portion of Alabama.
Trump’s tweet that Alabama would be affected by the storm gained national attention when, during an Oval Office press availability, he presented the version of the forecast cone from Aug. 29, extended into Alabama — modified using a Sharpie. The crudely altered map appeared to represent an effort to retroactively justify the original Alabama tweet.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/10/10/top-commerce-department-aides-orchestrated-noaas-hurricane-dorian-statement-house-science-committee-chair-says/
Full headline: Top Commerce Department aides orchestrated NOAA’s Hurricane Dorian statement, House Science Committee chair says
Chairwoman Johnson Follows Up on Investigation Into Reported Directives Regarding Hurricane Dorian
(Washington, DC) – Today, Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) sent a letter to Department of Commerce (Commerce) Secretary Wilbur Ross to follow up on the Department’s involvement in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) actions surrounding claims that Hurricane Dorian would impact Alabama. Though the Committee has yet to receive any responsive materials from Commerce, NOAA’s Acting Administrator, Dr. Neil Jacobs did agree to meet for a briefing with Science Committee staff on October 4.
Chairwoman Johnson’s letter follows up on information conveyed to staff by Dr. Jacobs and NOAA General Counsel John Luce, including:
The involvement of Commerce staff, namely Michael Walsh, Jr., Earl Comstock, and Dave Dewhirst, in drafting the NOAA statement rebuking the Birmingham National Weather Service’s tweet;
The White House’s influence on the statement via Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney’s alleged input via high-ranking Commerce officials; and
Commerce’s cooperation with the Commerce Office of Inspector General’s investigation of this matter while withholding related documents from the Committee.
A copy of the full letter can be found here.
Here is the letter that was sent (PDF) - https://science.house.gov/imo/media/doc/10.10.19%20Letter%20to%20Secretary%20Ross%20re%20Sept.%2011%20Letter%20.pdf
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