Maine U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe is applauding a decision by the U.S. Commerce Department to create a National Climate Service within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminstration.
NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco says the climate information currently provided by her agency is dispersed among a number of different offices, and she says the proposed plan would pull them together.
"We have people in the National Weather Service, in our satellite service and in our research branch, all of whom currrently do the science or deliver some climate services, and this would bring them all together into a single unit," Lubchenco told MPBN's Ed Morin.
Luchenco says she anticipates the NOAA climate service will continue to have a wide variety of users, such as wind farm developers, city planners and farmers, who want information about future climate trends. She says NOAA hopes plans can be finalized for the new climate service by the beginning of the next fiscal year.