Congress Ponders National Climate Service A significant shakeup
may soon take place within the federal government's weather and
climate programs, as the House Science and Technology Committee
is scheduled to consider legislation on June 3 that would
establish a "National Climate Service" within the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The Climate
Service would head up the government's efforts to provide
policy-relevant information about climate and climate change to
decision makers and the public, something which outside reviews
have found to be lacking in the country's multibillion dollar
climate research programs to date. As the deliberations on the
proposal have made clear, the issue isn't so much whether to
create a new climate entity of some kind, but rather how to go
about doing so. Keep reading for more on the possibilities of a
National Climate Service... Some, such as the National Weather
Service Employees Organization, favor placing the new service
within the existing National Wea