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Govt Watchdog: Politics caused 'Sharpiegate' frantic rebuke
Read full article: Govt Watchdog: Politics caused 'Sharpiegate' frantic rebukeFormer Obama NOAA chief Jane Lubchenco, a scientist at Oregon State University, said in an email that high level officials put politics and their own jobs above public safety. By the time the two tweets were posted, Alabama was no longer in the hurricane centers warning cone, although it had been in previous days. Jacobs said things went crazy in the middle of the night.Then-NOAA communications chief Julie Kay Roberts told the inspector generals office that Walsh told her there are jobs on the line. The report said there was no credible evidence found to say that jobs were threatened. The Inspector General instead selectively quotes from interviews, takes facts out of context.The White House declined comment.
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Panel: NOAA bowed to political pressure in Dorian dispute
Read full article: Panel: NOAA bowed to political pressure in Dorian dispute(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration leaders violated the agencys scientific integrity when they chastised a local weather office that had contradicted President Trumps inaccurate comments about Hurricane Dorian, an outside panel found. Twenty minutes after Trump's tweet, meteorologists in the National Weather Services Birmingham office tweeted Alabama will NOT see any impacts" from the storm. After a phone call to Jacobs from his boss, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, and other conversations with Commerce Department political appointees, NOAA put out the statement chastising the Birmingham weather office tweet. The outside report said the violations of scientific policy were, first, issuing the statement without talking to the Birmingham meteorologists and, second, issuing it after political pressure. Roberts left NOAA for another high-ranking job in the Department of Commerce.

NOAA acting administrator says no jobs under threat in Alabama speech
Read full article: NOAA acting administrator says no jobs under threat in Alabama speechThe weather service team has my full support and the support of the department," Dr. Neil Jacobs said during a speech at the National Weather Association's meeting in Huntsville, Alabama. The Commerce Department inspector general is opening a review of the statement NOAA issued disavowing the tweet, a source with knowledge of the situation told CNN. On Tuesday, Jacobs stood by the agency's support of Trump's claims that Hurricane Dorian was likely to hit Alabama. Jacobs voiced support for the weather service, but he did not apologize for the NOAA statement from Friday. "The purpose of the NOAA statement was to clarify the technical aspects of the potential impacts of Dorian.
NYT: Ross threatened to fire top NOAA employees over storm tweet
Read full article: NYT: Ross threatened to fire top NOAA employees over storm tweetWhen Jacobs opposed the demand, Ross told him NOAA's political staff would be fired, the Times reported. "Secretary Ross did not threaten to fire any NOAA staff over forecasting and public statements about Hurricane Dorian." The Times report caused one Democrat on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee -- Rep. Don Beyer, of Virginia -- to call for Ross' resignation. "If that story is true, I don't know that it is, if it is true, the commerce secretary needs to resign now," Himes said on Monday. Sen. John Thune, R-South Dakota, said it would be problematic if Ross threatened NOAA employees"We want the weather service to operate with integrity and without bias," he told CNN.

New national marine sanctuary will protect WWI-era shipwrecks
Read full article: New national marine sanctuary will protect WWI-era shipwrecksCHARLES COUNTY, Md. - The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has designated the first new national marine sanctuary since 2000. Forty miles south of Washington, the 18-square-mile stretch of the Potomac River in Charles County, Maryland, has been named the Mallows Bay-Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary. "The designation of Mallows Bay as a national marine sanctuary is an exciting milestone for NOAA and an opportunity for the public to celebrate and help protect this piece of our nation's rich maritime history," Acting Administrator Neil Jacobs said in a statement Monday. The ships never participated in battle, and they were eventually brought to the Potomac River in order to be salvaged for scrap metal.
