(The purpose of this note is to explain why I have modified the Accuweather link on my weather page)
U.S. Senator Rick Santorum has introduced a bill, S.786.IS to prohibit the US National Weather Service from "providing a service or product...that is or could be provided by the private sector," S.786.IS at Sec. 2(2)(b). More details are available in this article from the Palm Beach Post, which is justifiably concerned about the wide availability of hurricane forecasts and data.
Santorum's state of Pennsylvania is home to Accuweather, which has a keen interest in restricting public access to some NWS products. Strangely enough, Accuweather itself is a large commercial consumer of NWS' data, but there is no provision in Santorum's bill requiring it and other "private sector" forecasters to pay for their use. Although NOAA does charge a fee for data transmission to commercial providers, the taxpayer pays for the collection of weather data and now might have to pay again to have access to some types of forecasts.
Between them, the Myers brothers, Joel and Barry, who are President and EVP of Accuweather respectively, have contributed in excess of 10,000 dollars to Santorum's recent senatorial campaign. What goes around, comes around.
Remember, we get exactly the government large corporations think we ought to have. Yay us.
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