White House Said to Bar Hurricane Report

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Robert J. Berger" <rberger () ibd com>
Date: September 26, 2006 8:14:18 PM EDT
To: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>, David Farber  
<dave () farber net>
Subject: White House Said to Bar Hurricane Report

White House Said to Bar Hurricane Report

http://www.salon.com/wire/ap/archive.html?wire=D8KCPSL00.html

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID AP Science Writer

September 26,2006 | WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration has blocked  
release of a report that suggests global warming is contributing to  
the frequency and strength of hurricanes, the journal Nature reported  
Tuesday. The possibility that warming conditions may cause storms to  
become stronger has generated debate among climate and weather  
experts, particularly in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

In the new case, Nature said weather experts at the National Oceanic  
and Atmospheric Administration -- part of the Commerce Department --  
in February set up a seven-member panel to prepare a consensus report  
on the views of agency scientists about global warming and hurricanes.

According to Nature, a draft of the statement said that warming may  
be having an effect.

In May, when the report was expected to be released, panel chair Ants  
Leetmaa received an e-mail from a Commerce official saying the report  
needed to be made less technical and was not to be released, Nature  
reported.

Leetmaa, head of NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in New  
Jersey, did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment.

NOAA spokesman Jordan St. John said he had no details of the report.

NOAA Administrator Conrad Lautenbacher is currently out of the  
country, but Nature quoted him as saying the report was merely an  
internal document and could not be released because the agency could  
not take an official position on the issue.

However, the journal said in its online report that the study was  
merely a discussion of the current state of hurricane science and did  
not contain any policy or position statements.

A series of studies over the past year or so have shown an increase  
in the power of hurricanes in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, a  
strengthening that many storm experts say is tied to rising sea- 
surface temperatures.

<snip>
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