[Dialogue] White House Blocked Report Tying Global Warming, Stronger Hurricanes

[Harry Wainwright]

Published on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 by the Associated
<http://www.ap.org>  Press 

White House Blocked Report Tying Global Warming, Stronger Hurricanes 

by Randolph E. Schmid 

 

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has blocked release of a report that
suggests global warming is contributing to the frequency and strength of
hurricanes, the journal Nature reported Tuesday. 

The possibility that warming conditions may cause storms to become stronger
has generated debate among climate and weather experts, particularly in the
wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

In the new case, Nature said weather experts at the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration - part of the Commerce Department - in February
set up a seven-member panel to prepare a consensus report on the views of
agency scientists about global warming and hurricanes.

According to Nature, a draft of the statement said that warming may be
having an effect.

In May, when the report was expected to be released, panel chair Ants
Leetmaa received an e-mail from a Commerce official saying the report needed
to be made less technical and was not to be released, Nature reported.

Leetmaa, head of NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in New Jersey,
did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment.

NOAA spokesman Jordan St. John said he had no details of the report.

NOAA Administrator Conrad Lautenbacher is currently out of the country, but
Nature quoted him as saying the report was merely an internal document and
could not be released because the agency could not take an official position
on the issue.

However, the journal said in its online report that the study was merely a
discussion of the current state of hurricane science and did not contain any
policy or position statements.

A series of studies over the past year or so have shown an increase in the
power of hurricanes in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, a strengthening that
many storm experts say is tied to rising sea-surface temperatures.

Just two weeks ago, researchers said that most of the increase in ocean
temperature that feeds more intense hurricanes is a result of human-induced
global warming, a study one researcher said "closes the loop" between
climate change and powerful storms like Katrina.

Not all agree, however, with opponents arguing that many other factors
affect storms, which can increase and decrease in cycles.

The possibility of global warming affecting hurricanes is politically
sensitive because the administration has resisted proposals to restrict
release of gases that can cause warming conditions.

In February, a NASA political appointee who worked in the space agency's
public relations department resigned after reportedly trying to restrict
access to Jim Hansen, a NASA climate scientist who has been active in global
warming research. 

On the Net

Nature.com: http://www.nature.com/news

C 2006 The Associated Press

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