Washington, United States:
A meteorologist who gave to political pressure during the first administration of Donald Trump to deceive the public about a hurricane forecast was nominated by the president on Tuesday to lead the Oceanic and Atmospheric National Administration once again (NOAA).
Neil Jacobs, who previously directed the renowned scientific agency from 2018 to 2021, was officially censored for his role in the infamous “Sharpiegate” scandal, one of the strangest episodes of Trump’s first mandate.
Despite this, he has now been used to return to NOAA, that right -wing ideologues accuse of feeding the “climate change alarm industry.”
The controversy broke out in September 2019 when Trump, trusting obsolete information, mistakenly said that Hurricane Dorian attacked Alabama. The local office of the National Meteorological Service in Birmingham corrected it quickly to avoid unnecessary panic.
But Trump refused to go back, attacking with angry tweets and even showing a manipulated prognostic map, apparently modified with one of the black Sharpie pens that favors use, to reinforce his false claim.
Later, NOAA issued a stateless statement that supports Trump’s wrong statement, causing a generalized meteorologists reaction.
Subsequent official investigations punished Jacobs and another official for their roles in the drama.
A report by the National Academy of Public Administration declared that NOAA’s defense of Trump’s statement “was not based on science, but seems to be largely driven by external influences.” He also warned that such actions run public confidence in scientific institutions.
The new Jacobs nomination has already received strong criticism.
“If the data used to help protect people and the economy becomes less reliable, the result will be a very real damage to all, especially those in the first line of the climatic crisis,” said Rachel Cleetus of the Union of Scientists Unpatient.
He added that if Jacobs is confirmed, he must “commit to defend NOAA’s scientific integrity policy and defend any attempt to dismantle NOAA or market his prognosis work, which project defenders 2025 have requested.”
Developed by the Heritage Foundation, the 2025 project requires breaking NOAA, which according to him is one of the “main drivers of the climate change alarm industry.”
It also seeks to fully privatize the functions of the National Meteorological Service so that the forecasts are only provided by companies such as Accuweather.
Although Trump distanced himself from the plan during his 2024 campaign, it seems to be charging impulse now that he is back in office.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a feed union).
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