WASHINGTON -- Sen. Rick Santorum has introduced legislation that would limit the information that the National Weather Service can provide to the public, in what the Pennsylvania Republican's aides describe as an effort to make sure that private weather companies -- particularly those in his home state -- can compete in the marketplace and retain jobs.<br /><br />Santorum's legislation directs the U.S. secretary of commerce to limit the National Weather Service's offerings to just those services that private-sector weather companies cannot or are unwilling to offer -- unless the information is related to "severe weather forecasts and warnings designed for the protection of life and property" or information that the government must provide under international aviation accords.<br /><br />Some have criticized the legislation as a giveaway primarily intended to help Pennsylvania-based AccuWeather, whose employees have contributed to Santorum's campaign fund. But a spokeswoman for the senator dismissed that assertion as being without merit.<br /><br />Foes of the legislation view the bill as a major change to the role the National Weather Service plays, one that could drastically restrict free information for the public as well as airplane pilots and farmers, who are among some 6 million people who each day access weather service data on the Web pages of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA.<br /><br />The legislation "could be read to say that it prohibits the National Weather Service from providing any services online that are available from private vendors," said Chris Dancy, director of media relations for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. "The National Weather Service provides weather data online and through a number of other outlets that are vital to the safety of all flight. ... Everyone needs to at least start on the same page with the same basic information."<br /><br />Staff members for Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat from hurricane-prone Florida, said they were already working to prevent Santorum's bill from even coming out of committee. Nelson spokesman Dan McLaughlin said that during four hurricanes last year, many Floridians depended on National Weather Service data for information that ranged beyond emergency warnings.<br /><br />"The legislation appears to be aimed at restricting or closing off a free information service for consumers and, in turn, benefiting one or two big companies that sell weather forecasts and other information," McLaughlin said.<br /><br />"For Pete's sake, no one suggests shutting down the post office because FedEx has a system of delivery," McLaughlin said. But private weather companies have argued that the legislation is necessary to protect their rights in the marketplace. One of the companies advocating for the bill is AccuWeather in State College, Pa., whose employees have contributed at least $5,500 to Santorum since 1999, according to Federal Election Commission reports. AccuWeather also provides weather data to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and post-gazette.com.<br /><br />Individuals who identified themselves in FEC reports as AccuWeather employees also contributed at least $2,250 to Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter. A Specter aide yesterday said his staff was reviewing Santorum's legislation but had not yet taken a position about it.<br /><br />Until December 2004, the National Weather Service -- which falls under the purview of NOAA, which is part of the Commerce Department -- has been guided by a series of agreements designed to make sure that the federal agency does not compete with private firms, which use National Weather Service data to provide their own specialized services.<br /><br />But late last year, NOAA argued that the agency's most recent policy about competition -- known as the 1991 public-private partnership policy -- was too strict in delineating the roles of the weather service with regard to private companies. The agency then dropped that policy as "untenable" because "there may be good public-policy reasons" for the weather service to provide some services that the private sector could also offer.<br /><br />The private companies saw that stance as a sign that the National Weather Service might endanger their businesses by expanding into new areas with competing products or offerings.<br /><br />"What we see [the National Weather Service] doing is providing specialized information for business and industry, commercial users within society, products and services that the public, really, itself doesn't need," said AccuWeather Executive Vice President Barry Myers.<br /><br />Providing generalized public information that parallels the private firms' services is "not the function of our government," Myers said, "and I don't think you'll find any other agency in the U.S. government that does that kind of thing."<br /><br />The pre-2004 weather service policies on competition led to "the entire explosion of weather information in the United States and gives us probably the best weather available to the public anywhere in the world," Myers contended. He argued that Santorum's bill was a necessary measure to put back in place a firm anti-competition policy for the federal agency. <br /><br /><br />I don't think this guy is in touch with reality 
