Knight Ridder Newspapers

GULFPORT, Miss. – Pending federal legislation could stir up a storm in weather circles.

A U.S. Senate bill would severely limit the public and law enforcement’s access to the National Weather Service.

Sen. Richard Santorum, R-Pa., last month introduced a bill in which the government-run weather service would still do research and compile data, but that information would be put in data portals that commercial weather companies and the media would have to pay to access.

Officials with the National Weather Service Employees Organization said if the bill passes, it would prevent the service from providing information, including marine, public and aviation forecasts to the public, the media, academia or state and local emergency management officials.

“Basically, we would not be able to put anything on the Internet except during a national emergency,” NWSEO member Bill Hopkins said. “This will be a disaster if we’re not able to put information out there.”

The National Weather Service still would be allowed to issue severe weather warnings but would not be able to advise school districts and road crews on anticipated rain and snowfall amounts.

“It costs money to get the information to the public,” NWSEO executive vice president Dan Sobien said. “But there are a large number of people who just get it off the Internet, repackage it and sell it. It’s going to put thousands of people out of business, especially the mom-and-pop operations.”

Santorum has said he doesn’t want the federal government providing a service available by private companies. AccuWeather, a provider of climatological data, is based in College Station, Pa., the state Santorum represents.

In a press release, Santorum said he wants to “clarify the duties and responsibilities of the National Weather Service” and said the National Weather Service in December repealed a non-competition and non-duplication policy that was enacted in 1991.

“The decision by NOAA to repeal the non-competition and non-duplication policy detracts from NWS’s core missions of maintaining a modern and effective meteorological infrastructure, collecting comprehensive observational data and issuing warnings and forecasts of severe weather that imperil life and property,” Santorum said.

The bill is in the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.