From THE DAILY CALLER
Nick Pope
Contributor
House Republicans are pressing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) for answers on a signature data set that is often cited as evidence that climate change is accelerating.
Members of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee wrote to NOAA Administrator Richard Spinrad on Wednesday demanding information on some aspects of the agency’s “billion dollar disaster” (BDD) dataset, which the Biden administration called to justify the pause in nature. gas export terminal agreement, among others. Lawmakers said the BDD data may have violated NOAA’s scientific integrity rules, and also called for clarification on NOAA’s methodology and an explanation of why the agency did not adjust for variables like GDP.
Critics of these metrics argue that economic statistics are inadequate proxies for the intensity of climate change or changes in meteorological conditions. For example, the same storm in the same location at two different times will cause different damages due to an increase in the number of properties at risk and not necessarily due to worsening climate change. (EXCLUSIVE: ‘Blatant Violation’: Watchdog Challenges Key Data Biden Admin Used to Push Sweeping Climate Agenda)
“Since the 1990s, NOAA has published annual reports showing the number of disasters that have caused more than a billion dollars in damages,” the letter said. “The debate over the validity of the reporting methodology has led NOAA to make additional but important changes. Since 2011, the estimated cost of reporting all past disasters in the dataset has been updated annually to account for inflation in today’s dollars.
“However, despite adjustments for inflation, the report has not been adjusted to increase population or wealth in the same capacity,” the letter continued. Due to increased population and wealth, even mild storms can sometimes cause greater damage today. The lack of updated and comprehensive data in the model is a cause for concern as the report has been cited by Congress and the President as justification for the federal government’s various actions on climate change.
The BDD data was used in the flagship climate report released by the Biden administration in 2023, and was also cited as evidence to justify the administration’s delay in approval for a new liquefied natural gas export terminal by Deputy Energy Secretary David Turk in testimony given to Congress in February.
The letter states that NOAA’s adjustments for inflation appear to be inconsistent in some cases. In addition, the MPs wrote that the opaque methodology for generating BDD data makes the data nearly impossible to independently replicate and verify.
The authors of the letter – Republican Reps. Frank Lucas of Oklahoma, Max Miller of Ohio and Jay Obernolte of California – asked Spinrad to explain why NOAA linked BDD and climate change data and the scientific basis for doing so, as well as for an explanation of why the agency did not adjust the data to increase in population or wealth.
Roger Pielke Jr., a BDD critic and former professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado, raised some of these issues in his own correction request sent to NOAA in January. In response to their request, NOAA said it would take several steps to improve the transparency of BDD data.
NOAA cited the Daily Caller News Foundation for the statement it issued in response to Pielke’s correction request when contacted for comment on this story. The agency’s spokesperson added that the agency will respond to the lawmakers’ letters through official channels.
“NOAA notes that (the request for correction (RFC)) does not identify specific data points that need to be corrected. In conducting a review of the RFC, NOAA has not identified data inaccuracies in the Billion Dollar Disaster data set,” said an agency spokesperson in a statement shared with DCNF regarding Pielke’s correction request. “NOAA has determined the US Billion Dollar Weather and Climate Disaster dataset meets the threshold for influential scientific information (ISI) under NOAA’s Information Quality Guidelines. As a result, NOAA will review and update its management practices for the dataset.
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