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Trump's Swamp - Unqualified, Corrupt Pick to Lead NOAA Withdraws
It is nonstop chaos in this country which doesn't leave time to celebrate some minor victories. In this case, Barry Myers, Trump's pick to lead NOAA, has withdrawn his nomination. This is a big win. He was yet another person picked to lead a government agency whose life goal is to destroy that agency.
Barry Myers, Trump’s controversial nominee to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has withdrawn from consideration.... Myers’ nomination had languished in the Senate since it was first announced in November 2017, due in part to conflict of interest concerns regarding his family’s continued ownership stake in AccuWeather, the private weather forecasting company he led until stepping down on Jan. 1.
AccuWeather has had a history of advocating for expanding the role of private forecasting companies and limiting the functions of the taxpayer-funded National Weather Service, which is part of NOAA. Concerns had also been raised regarding AccuWeather’s record of sexual harassment lawsuits and settlements during Myers’ time at the company.
Myers wanted to privatize the National Weather Service for his own family’s profit. He tried to curb the free flow of data and safety information to the public. Myers also was wildly unqualified to lead a science agency. Jane Lubchenco, former head of NOAA, put it bluntly: "The safety and economic well-being of Americans will be put at risk if the Senate confirms Barry Lee Myers as the next administrator of NOAA."
Given NOAA’s role as a weather, climate, and fisheries research and regulatory agency, NOAA administrators typically come from scientific backgrounds, such as oceanography. Under President Barack Obama, for example, NOAA was led by prominent researcher Jane Lubchenco and then Kathryn Sullivan, a geologist who was the first American woman to walk in space.
Myers’ nomination had twice been favorably reported out of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, but was never brought up for a floor vote.
Barry Myers was not fit to lead NOAA. The dedicated scientists & experts at NOAA deserve someone who respects their commitment to the truth and to public service.
NOAA, which has responsibilities stretching from the seafloor to low Earth Orbit, has now gone through the entire Trump presidency-to-date without a presidentially appointed administrator. This is the longest-such period in the agency’s history since it was created within the Commerce Department in 1970.
The agency is currently being led in an acting capacity by Neil Jacobs, who has a scientific background in weather forecasting and computer modeling.