Forecast: Costly weather

MIKE WHITEHEAD

Ahoy.

Do you want to pay twice to receive weather information, and how

about no more weather reports via weather radio?

In my June 17 article, I mentioned that a Senate bill had been

introduced that may severely limit future weather warnings for not

only boaters but for anyone who uses National Weather Service reports

on the water or the land. Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum introduced

the bill, which could drastically affect how you could receive

weather information, limiting how forecasts are distributed to the

public and other services.

The bill has been read twice and is now before the Committee on

Commerce, Science and Transportation.

The idea is for everyone to use a private Internet service for

weather. Keep in mind that your tax dollars were used to gather this

information for the private services, therefore you’re paying twice

for it.

This makes no sense to me, since the cost to distribute the

information has become less expensive and much faster in the Internet

age. Further, the National Weather Service should continue to be the

leader in disseminating data in real time and displaying the data in

useful ways to boaters and others.

The bill states that the National Oceanic & Atmospheric

Administration would only release warnings that are life threatening.

Even then, the broadcast channels have to remain active anyway. You

just wouldn’t be able to check sea and weather conditions on your VHF

marine band radio before you pull the anchor to head home.

BoatUS has prepared a sample letter that every boater should send

to senators in Washington, D.C. You can copy the letter printed

below, or go to https://www.boatus.com/gov/Sample786ltr.doc.

*

The Honorable Sen. ________

United States Senate

Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator ________:

I am writing to ask you to oppose S. 786, legislation introduced

by Sen. Rick Santorum that calls for giving private, commercially

operated weather services exclusive access to weather data now

developed by the National Weather Service.

Such a drastic change in the public’s access to critical weather

information could endanger the safety of boat owners who routinely

rely on this information to make basic decisions about when to head

out of port or when to return.

The bill would limit the National Weather Service to issuing

severe weather forecasts and warnings for the protection of life and

property. This would be detrimental to mariners because

“non-emergency” weather data such as wind speed, tides, currents and

the movement of fronts that would not be considered “severe” or life

threatening for those on land could easily lead to hazardous

conditions at sea.

Both recreational and commercial mariners rely on NOAA Weather

Radio for constant updates on conditions and under the Santorum bill;

these would be halted and become the exclusive domain of commercial

providers. Boaters would be required to invest in special equipment

and pay costly subscription fees for a commercial service or go

without. One existing service costs $1,500 for the receiver and $695

a year to subscribe.

Furthermore, S. 786 will not save the federal government money

because the National Weather Service will still have to collect and

monitor all the same weather data in order to only [issue] warnings

of severe weather. Boat owners, like all citizens, would be paying

twice for the same information, once in their taxes to support the

Weather Service and again to buy weather forecasts from a private

provider. This, in our opinion, would set a bad precedent for many

other federal services.

S. 786 is ill-conceived legislation that would establish a

dangerous precedent. I urge you to oppose this legislation and vote

against it should it be considered in committee or on the floor

Thank you for your attention to this important issue.

Sincerely,

*

This is not a cost-saving measure for the government, as all the

same data-collection functions must carry on, and there’s the

continued cost of maintaining notification via radio and Internet for

the warnings.

Tune in to the No. 1 boating talk radio show in the nation, “Capt.

Mike Whitehead’s Boathouse Radio Show.” It airs every Saturday from

noon to 1 p.m. on KCBQ-AM (1170). You can join me, Chandler Bell and

Eric Hovland by calling the listener line at (888) 344-1170.

Safe voyages.

* MIKE WHITEHEAD is the Pilot’s boating and harbor columnist. Send

him your harbor and marine-related thoughts and story suggestions by

e-mail to [email protected] or visit https://www.boathousetv.com.