Prometheus and public access to publicly-funded weather information

The science policy website Prometheus has posted some provoking and useful information on global warming, but I'm not sure where they're going with a post that accepts the idea that government-developed weather information should be withheld from the public in some cases because it competes "unfairly" with private weather services.

The two background links that I can read in the post (don't have access to the book) are both squarely in the camp of protecting the financial interests of private meteorologists. For other viewpoints, try this:

National Weather Service Employees Organization Vows to Fight S.786

Alert: Protect Public Weather Data

Here comes the rain again (shows Senator Santorum is trying to help the financial interest of a powerful friend and donor)

The Prometheus post wants to fine-tune the concept, but I can't see any justification for it, except for the unlikely possibility that federal funding comes directly from private meteorologists.


keywords: science