Re: [APML] You may soon have to pay to get a weather forecast...

["Stuart Heggie" <Stuart.J.Heggie@sympatico.ca>]

Andrew, that is an interesting development. I expect we'll have to see if
the interpretation goes as the text suggests - doesn't sound good.

Up here in Canada we have Environment Canada (like the NWS) and one well
established TV and Web based weather service called The Weather Network
(TWN). TWN was for a while pretty competitive in terms of quality but no
longer.

Now, I have the choice of the gov't version which is paid for in my taxes,
accurate (most of the time) and straight and to the point OR a commercial
version which is sometimes as accurate (no promise), cannot issue weather
advisories (scary up here to not know about one in Winter), inundates the
web user with pop-ups and prurient advertising (spy cam ads featuring
attractive women suggesting I suppose that if we buy a spy cam we can see
these women) etc. Easy choice. I hope you guys don't lose the NWS.

Competition is a good thing for sure. It is a balancing act to allow the
gov't to participate in a sector that is for-profit but it seems workable.

Stuart Heggie
http://www.astrofoto.ca/stuartheggie
Flesherton, Ontario, Canada

"Beauty in things exists in the mind that contemplates them."
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Andrew Clegg" <andy@w4je.com>
To: "Discussion of Film Astrophotography" <astro-photo@seds.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2005 6:17 AM
Subject: [APML] You may soon have to pay to get a weather forecast...


> We all take for granted the ability to get the weather forecast from the
> National Weather Service when planning our observing and astrophotography.
> But the following news item from Jeff Masters of the Weather Underground
> site notes that it may soon be illegal for the NWS to issue weather
> forecasts except in the case of severe weather:
>
>
> It may soon be illegal for the National Weather Service (NWS) to issue
> non-severe weather forecasts under the provisions of the National Weather
> Service Duties Act of 2005, Senate Bill S.786, introduced April 14 by Sen.
> Rick Santorum, R-Pa.
> The bill's key provision (Section 2b) states that the National Weather
> Service cannot provide "a product or service...that is or could be
provided
> by the private sector", with the exception of severe weather forecasts and
> warnings needed to protect life and property. Secretary of Commerce Carlos
> Gutierrez is given sole authority on how to interpret what NWS products
and
> services should be restricted. In his comments upon introduction of the
> bill, Senator Santorum said the bill would boost the private weather
> industry by reducing unfair competition from the NWS and generate cost
> savings to the government, remarking, "The beauty of a highly competent
> private sector is that services that are not inherently involved in public
> safety and security can be carried out with little or no expenditure of
> taxpayer dollars."
>


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