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Keep weather forecasts free

A recent visit to AccuWeather's Web site produced a pop-up ad for an online travel agency, another for traveler's checks, and some weather information. You could click on AccuWeather's animated loop of the weather radar covering Florida. Or you could go to the National Weather Service Web site and get the same information in even more detail and without the pop-up ads.

Most Floridians already are familiar with the National Weather Service and its Web site, www.nws.noaa.gov When four hurricanes threatened the state last year, the site got 9 -billion visits from people trying to track the storms and prepare for the worst.

AccuWeather, a private weather service located in Pennsylvania, wants to stop the National Weather Service from providing timely weather information directly to the public. Instead, it wants that information to be filtered through AccuWeather and other profit-making weather services that, essentially, repackage national weather data and sell it to the public.

So AccuWeather got Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum to sponsor a bill in Congress that would accomplish the goal. The bill states that the weather service "shall not provide ... a product or service that is or could be provided by the private sector."

Santorum was only too happy to front for AccuWeather and the 13 other private weather services operating out of Pennsylvania, because he could use their help in his upcoming re-election bid. "This is about job retention in Pennsylvania," said Chrissy Shott, his spokeswoman. Presumably she wasn't referring to Santorum's job.

All taxpayers have an interest in defeating this bill, because they already have paid for the weather service. While private companies may fill a market niche for specialized weather information, most Americans can rely on the National Weather Service. Floridians have a large stake in the outcome, because they need the weather service for accurate, up-to-date (and free) hurricane forecasts.

When Congress returns from its summer vacation, Floridians need to let lawmakers know which way the wind blows on this bill: Leave the National Weather Service alone.

[Last modified August 9, 2005, 01:23:15]