From the Daily Caller
Nick Pope
Contributor
House Republicans are pressing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) for answers about a characteristic data set that is often cited as evidence that climate change is intensifying.
Members of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee wrote to NOAA Administrator Richard Spinrad on Wednesday requesting information on multiple aspects of the agency's Billion Dollar Disaster (BDD) data set. The Biden administration cited the data to justify its natural disaster moratorium. Lawmakers claimed that the BDD data may violate NOAA's scientific integrity rules, and they also asked NOAA to clarify its methodology and explain why the agency does not adjust for variables such as GDP.
Critics of the indicator point out that economic statistics do not adequately reflect the intensity of climate change or changing meteorological conditions. For example, the same storm occurring in the same location at two different times can cause different total losses because the number of damaged properties increases, not necessarily because climate change makes them worse. (Exclusive: 'Blatant violation': Regulators challenge key data used by Biden administration to push sweeping climate agenda)
“Since the 1990s, NOAA has issued annual reports showing the number of disasters that have caused more than $1 billion in losses,” the letter states. “Controversy surrounding the effectiveness of the reporting methodology has led NOAA to make incremental but important changes. Since 2011, the report's cost estimates for all past disasters in the data set have been updated annually to account for inflation in current dollars.
“However, while adjusted for inflation, the report does not adjust for population or wealth growth of the same capacity,” the letter continued. As population and wealth increased, even minor storms sometimes caused greater damage. The lack of updated, comprehensive data in these models raises considerable concern, given that both Congress and the president have cited these reports as justification for different federal actions on climate change.
The Biden administration used BDD data in its flagship climate report to be released in 2023, and Energy Undersecretary David Turk also cited BDD data in his 2017 testimony to Congress as part of the administration's pause in approving new liquefaction Evidence of a gas export terminal.
NOAA's adjustments for inflation appear to be inconsistent in some cases, the letter said. Additionally, the opaque method used to derive the BDD data makes it nearly impossible to independently replicate and verify the data, the lawmakers wrote.
The letter was written by Republican Reps. Frank Lucas of Oklahoma, Max Miller of Ohio and Jay Obernault of California. Obernolte) – called on Spinrad to reveal why NOAA links BDD data to climate change, the scientific basis for doing so, and to explain why the agency does not adjust its data to account for increases in population or wealth.
BDD critic Roger Pielke Jr., a former environmental studies professor at the University of Colorado, raised several of these issues in a correction request submitted to NOAA in January. In response to his request, NOAA said it would take some steps to improve the transparency of BDD data.
NOAA reached out to The Daily Caller News Foundation for comment on this story, referring to the statement the foundation issued in response to Pilker's request for a correction. A spokesman for the agency added that the agency would respond to the MP's letter through official channels.
“NOAA states [request for correction (RFC)] No specific data points were pointed out that needed correction. During its review of the RFC, NOAA was not aware of any data inaccuracies in the Billion Dollar Disaster Data Set,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement shared with DCNF regarding Pilk's correction request. “NOAA has determined that a multibillion-dollar weather and climate hazard data set meets the thresholds for Impactful Science Information (ISI) under NOAA's Information Quality Guidelines. Therefore, NOAA will review and update its data set management practices.
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