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. [emphasis, links added]
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 has cited the data set to justify its suspension of, among other things, natural gas export terminal approvals.
legislators claim BDD materials may violate NOAA's scientific integrity rulesthey also asked NOAA to clarify its methodology and explain Why doesn't the agency adjust for variables like 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 in the same location at two different times will cause different total losses because the number of damaged properties increases, not necessarily because climate change makes them worse.
“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 growth in population or wealth at 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.
BDD data is used in the Biden administration's flagship climate report to be released in 2023 and cited as evidence for the administration's moratorium on approving new LNG export terminals Energy Undersecretary David Turk proposed in testimony to Congress in February.
NOAA's inflation adjustments appear inconsistent in some cases, the letter said. Additionally, the legislators wrote The opaque method by which BDD data is derived makes independent replication and verification of the data nearly impossible.
The letter was written by Republican Reps. Frank Lucas of Oklahoma, Max Miller of Ohio and Jay Obernolt of California. Obernolte) – Calls on Spinrad to disclose why NOAA links BDD data to climate change, the scientific basis for doing so, and its explanation Why doesn't the agency adjust its data based on growth 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.
At his request, NOAA said it will take steps to increase the transparency of BDD data.
When contacted for comment, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) referred the Daily Caller News Foundation to a statement the foundation made in response to Pilker's request for a correction. statement. 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. In its review of the RFC, NOAA did not identify any data inaccuracies in the multi-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 threshold 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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