Trump appointees have ties to companies that stand to benefit from privatizing weather forecasts

[dalton99a]

https://apnews.com/article/trump-lutnick-weather-service-privatization-conflicts-9892de853c283468e6fb970cfd898d96

Trump appointees have ties to companies that stand to benefit from privatizing weather forecasts
By BRIAN SLODYSKO and MICHAEL BIESECKER
Updated 6:38 AM CDT, July 9, 2025

WASHINGTON (AP) — As commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick oversees the U.S. government’s vast efforts to monitor and predict the weather.

The billionaire also ran a financial firm, which he recently left in the control of his adult sons, that stands to benefit if President Donald Trump’s administration follows through on a decade-long Republican effort to privatize government weather forecasting.

Deadly weekend flooding in central Texas has drawn a spotlight to budget cuts and staff reductions at the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, two agencies housed within the Commerce Department that provide the public with free climate and weather data that can be crucial during natural disasters.

What’s drawn less attention is how the downsizing appears to be part of an effort to privatize the work of such agencies. In several instances, the companies poised to step into the void have deep ties to people tapped by Trump to run weather-related agencies.

Privatization would diminish a central role the federal government has played in weather forecasting since the 1800s, which experts say poses a particular harm for those facing financial strain who may not be able to afford commercial weather data.

...

[Walleye]

1. So a paywall on the weather forecast. We finally got there.

These guys aren’t interested in governing they are building dynasties of their own

[dalton99a]

4. +1. The function of government is to create, preserve and protect monopolies for billionaires

[Walleye]

6. The sickening thing is they really believe that. With their white male privileged lives.

[Timewas]

2. Of course

No real surprise

[Demovictory9]

3. Of course

[malaise]

5. Duh!

That is all

[Passages]

7. 1984 examined the issues of truth versus propaganda.

Orwell imagined that a Trump could take hold quite well, didn't he?

[allegorical oracle]

8. This decades-old privatization fetish will affect all govt functions at some point. As we

watched DOGE slash and burn federal agencies, it was apparent. To me, the symbol of Repug thinking is the notion of removing Gazans so that Gaza becomes a lucrative resort for the wealthy.

They must monetize the world. If you can't afford to pay for it, then you don't deserve to have it.

[sop]

9. All Republican efforts to eliminate and privatize public services and agencies are motivated by money.

Every part of the commons is seen a potential source of profit for corporate interests running the GOP: education, Social Security, Medicare, law enforcement, prisons, the military...and now weather forecasting.

[karynnj]

10. Don't most of the private weather forecasters use

primary data collected by NOAA as the basis of their forecast?

[dalton99a]

11. Project 2025 wants to get rid of NOAA

Project 2025 includes about four pages on NOAA and the National Weather Service. That part was written by Thomas F. Gilman, who was an official in Trump’s Commerce Department.

The document describes NOAA as a primary component “of the climate change alarm industry” and said it “should be broken up and downsized.”

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/fact-checking-what-project-2025-says-about-the-national-weather-service-and-noaa