..courtesy of Yachting magazine...

Good weather information has saved many a boater from wet passages and
indisposed passengers, but it is much more than that, nothing less than a
matter of life and death. Fortunately, the United Stales has the best
public-access weather information system in the world, thanks to the National
Weather Service and its parent, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, better known as NOAA.

Unfortunately that fact seems to be lost on

U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (R.,Pennsylvania)    who has introduced a bill to
put a stop to your tax-paid buoy, satellite, ground station and meteorologist
information stream—saying, in
essence, to boaters: drop dead

The bill would deny NOAA and the NWS the right to make their information
available free of charge. Instead, Santorum wants weather data to only go to
companies that charge for it—not pay for it, but who get it free and then
bill you, the taxpayer, a second time around.

He calls this protecting the private sector from unfair government
competition. If that sounds like a cockamamie bit of doubletalk to you, get on
the horn and complain to your Congressman imnediately, because the National
Weather Services Duties Act of 2005 is coming to a marina near you.

Oh, and in case you're wondering why a U.S. Senator would want to wreck a
jewel of a system like NOAA, just follow the money. His bill would seem to
benefit only Pennsylvania-based AccuWeather, a major contributor to the
Senator's PAC and re-election campaign

http://www.boatus.com/gov/sb786.htm

Brian Eiland

beiland@usa.net
www.RunningTideYachts.com
distinctive expedition yachts

Here is a response from Sen Barbara Boxer's (D-CA)
office on this subject. The bill is in the Senate
Commerce Committee, which she is on. There have been
several messages on PUP and T&T on this - I hope a few
people will take the time to write their senator

========================
Dear Mr. Pisciotta:

Thank you for contacting me regarding S.786, the

National Weather Service Duties Act of 2005. I
appreciate the opportunity to respond to your views,
and I share your concerns about this bill.

S.786 seeks to severely restrict the functions of the
National Weather Service (NWS), which is run by the
federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration. The NWS currently offers a wide range
of free weather services for all Americans, including
invaluable information for airplane pilots, farmers,
and those seeking details about severe weather in
their areas. This bill would prevent the NWS from
offering these free weather services to the public.
Instead, private weather companies, which rely
primarily on the same data used by the NWS, would
charge Americans for their services.

The NWS provides a reliable and effective public

service that is utilized by over six million Americans
each day. S.786 eliminates this valuable service and
unfairly penalizes people by requiring them to pay for
information that should be available free of charge.
This bill is currently in the Senate Commerce
Committee, of which I am a member. Rest assured that I
am not in favor of this bill and that I will work with
my colleagues to prevent this bill from reaching the
full Senate floor.

Again, thank you for writing to me. Please do not

hesitate to contact me again about this or any other
issue of concern to you .

Barbara Boxer
United States Senator

=======================
Peter Pisciotta
415-902-8439