Proenza out as hurricane center chief

Source: Miami Herald

By MARTIN MERZER
July 9, 2007


National Hurricane Center Director Bill Proenza lost his job today, in response to an unprecedented and unseemly mutiny that left him without significant support from his employees in South Florida or his bosses in Washington.

Proenza's departure ended a turbulent reign at the hurricane center that lasted only six months and was cut so short that it didn't include a single hurricane.
Federal officials named Ed Rappaport as acting director, said Greg Romano, a spokesman with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

.....

Proenza's resignation followed months of controversy, stirred largely by his attacks on superiors at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Weather Service.

He said they were squandering millions of dollars on a ``bogus NOAA 200th anniversary celebration (the agency was created in 1970 though several components are 200 years old) while hurricane researchers dealt with budget shortfalls and hurricane forecasters faced the eventual demise of an important satellite.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/854/story/165117.html

It has all been bizarre.

Brian Norcross was on a local radio program this morning (the hero meteorologist for so many during Hurricane Andrew in 1992). His opinion was that even though Proenza was genuinely concerned about the lack of resources and the dwindling funds for the National Hurricane Center, he didn't go about it in the right way by first involving the other scientists in his approach to publicizing his concerns.

I also heard that some of the other long-time scientists at the Hurricane Center were passed over for Proenza's job. Maybe some professional jealousy..?


Personally, I think the Bush administration was hopping mad that someone put the spotlight on their ruthless budget axe, cutting important public safety services like the Hurricane Center.

Can't have that. :sarcasm:

The federal sharks that have been sniffing around the Hurricane Center last week and were to have their completed report last Thursday, *aren't finished* and are coming back this week yet again. Must crush all opposition to the king.

I've been glued to this story since I learned that he managed to mention that hurricanes might be connected to global warming which alone would make him a target from the anti-global warming Bush Adm. That he told the truth about the aging QuikSCAT satellite and the fact that there aren't plans in place to replace it - well there went his job!
Further, note that Admiral Lautenbacher, Proenza's boss and head of NOAA was appointed by Bush in 2001, and acts as a "hit man" for anybody who rubs the White House the wrong way.
The other thing is that I'd bet the bureaucrats that came in on July 2nd in their surprise inspection of NHC - threatened the forecasters with more budget cuts, even lost jobs if they had to replace that satellite (20 of them signed their petition against Proenza the next day). After all, the 400 million dollar cost of replacement is almost a weeks worth of money we could spend on the war in Iraq! :sarcasm: :grr:
Side note: Mary Glackin, new acting head of the NWS and one down in the chain of command from Lautenbach, lied in an interview when she said that there were plans in place at JPl, for a new satellite. No such plans exist nor are they funded (yet though Congress is investigating and now trying to fund this).
Proenza spoke to this which ticked NOAA muckies off since he did NOT "go through the proper channels" before doing press releases to the public.

So folks, looks like we lost yet another guy who cared more about us than kissing Bush's ass!!!



New NHC Director Bill Proenza has "the White House pissed off"

"The new director of the National Hurricane Center, an outspoken critic of his superiors since he took over in January, charged Friday night that they are trying to muzzle him and could be setting him up for dismissal."

Excerpted from complete story here, on MiamiHerald.com

For some background, TPC/NHC Director Bill Proenza recently made public comments about what he considers to be unwise spending and re-organizational practices within NOAA, particularly an apparent expensive and rather lavish attempt by NOAA to convince the public that they are now 200 years old and involved in wide-ranging public service, whereas some outspoken critics point out that NOAA itself was really just created in 1970 and then sort of "acquired" other agencies that are now up to 200 years old. Some critics also point out a possible trend towards a general less-than public service, service agenda, as they argue that both NOAA and NASA have been politically massaged under the current administration, redirected, and "planted" at the top with individuals who are more in lock-step with the current presidential administration. Another recent complaint from many inside and outside of NOAA, one also lodged by NHC Director Bill Proenza himself, has been the virtual never-ending delays by this new NOAA to replace their invaluable QuikSCAT satellite, which is now already past its expected lifetime and malfunctioning at times, and which has received much press lately about the likelihood that it will completely fail at any time, arguably resulting in a significantly greater number of tropical cyclone forecast inaccuracies.

http://community.livejournal.com/twc_aficionados/tag/bill+proenza

It almost seems orchestrated by higher ups to make it seem like a grass roots ouster.

but at the same time, he doesn't seem all that great....I think we need more information

:applause:

he was exposing bush's cuts in funding.

ellen fl

From the article:

He said they were squandering millions of dollars on a ''bogus'' NOAA 200th anniversary celebration (the agency was created in 1970 though several components are 200 years old) while hurricane researchers dealt with budget shortfalls and hurricane forecasters faced the eventual demise of an important satellite.

That satellite, called QuikScat, monitors winds over distant regions of the ocean and could fail at any time. No replacement is being built, though preliminary planning is under way.

Proenza adopted the issue as his own, frequently and passionately telling audiences and reporters that the satellite's loss would diminish the accuracy of two-day forecasts by 10 percent and three-day forecasts by 16 percent.

His forecasters agreed that QuikScat was an important tool but disagreed about the consequences of its failure. They said its loss could be mitigated through other means and, in any event, would not significantly affect forecasts of landfalling hurricanes.

============
Continue reading the article and you will find out why the forecasters were upset. I wonder who had money to gain in the replacement of the satellite.

about the whole thing.
NOAA wanted to absorb the national hurricane center and had reduced it's funding. They wanted the nhc's good brand name. Maybe the people under him were upset that he was costing them funding from the feds.
Still the whole story is not out there.

Santorum of course was lobbied by AccuWeather based in State College, PA. In that the NWS could not offer forecasts on their website, but only collect data. Only private forecasting operations could issue forecasts (but not warnings of course).

Why NOAA and the NWS is getting politicized is beyond me besides money. It is one of the most non-partisan agencies most people agree upon.

The satellite is used for hurricane forecasting, so we here in New Orleans are particularly keen to keep this satellite up.

And Bushco, in typical fashion, doesn't learn from mistakes and punishes anyone who dares speak in public against the administration's policies. In this case, no money had been appropriated for replacing this crucial satellite. So, they staged a popular uprising against him, and had him forced out.

Typical Rovian tactics.

Repukes wanna drown 'em s'more black babies!

...before he brings an Uzi in here!

Remember when it was the post office where gummint workers "went postal"? What is it now? Going "all NOAA" on your ass?

"Prince Charming don't care about green people."

Looks like he came to the job with plenty of experience and knowledge.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/director_bio.shtml

A meteorology graduate of The Florida State University, Proenza began his career in tropical meteorology in the mid 1960s at NHC and as a flight meteorologist on the "hurricane hunter" aircraft. He continued his career within the National Weather Service for more than 35 years receiving numerous performance commendations and awards, including recognition from the NWS Employees' Organization as the NWS Manager of the Year for his collaborative leadership.

Proenza has held a diverse array of field and leadership positions and his meteorological experience ranges from leadership in the modernization of weather services as well as managing weather forecasting and severe weather warning services to providing climate services. He rose through the ranks of the NWS and held the position of Director of the most severe weather active area of our Nation, the Southern Region, encompassing ¼ of the Nation from New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma eastward all the way to Florida and on across the Caribbean to include Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands from 1998 through 2006. Through his experience in the southern, northern and eastern portions of the nation, Bill has gained a unique familiarity with many types of weather from tropical to intense winter weather and severe local storms.

Proenza is a long standing member of the American Meteorological Society, the National Weather Association, the International Association of Emergency Managers and the National Emergency Management Association. In 2001, the American Meteorological Society (AMS) recognized him with its prestigious "Francis W. Reichelderfer Award" for outstanding environmental services to the nation and in 2003, he was conferred the prestigious status of "Fellow of the AMS". Just recently in 2006, he was elected to the leadership of the American Meteorological Society as a Counselor.

Proenza is an internationally recognized meteorologist and has represented the U.S. Government across the Caribbean Basin. In 2006 and 2007, he headed the United States Delegations to United Nations (UNESCO) meetings on tsunamis and the oceans. Proenza is also the chairman of the United Nation.s World Meteorological Organization.s Hurricane Committee, which supports 26 member nations in the Americas.

the truth.

Who is this Rappaport bozo?

Proenza called them on putting more money into throwing a party (think 10 inaugural balls) than in actually giving them the tools to do their job.

Looks like they are applying techniques used to insert puppet governments into other countries here at home in our own federal agencies.

is not a bozo. He's a great forcaster and has actually worked there at NHC since the 80s.

but you know how *ushco works. It IS out of character for them to appoint someone who knows what he's doing to a position of authority UNLESS they KNOW that person will play the political game.

Maybe some other federal office that still has some integrity slipped him in there.

Fine. I will be happy and giddy to be wrong. One less thing to worry about.

Look I'm all for standing up to the Bush admin, but calling Rappaport a crony and a bozo shows a huge amount of ignorance.

You KNOW what usually happens when this administration reaches in and plucks someone out and puts someone else in place. You get someone who won't say, "Boo" to them dismantling the organization.

AND in the article it shows that powers that be marched in before this happened. Were they honestly listening to people's concerns? Getting real feedback or telling them how it would be?

If this really is grass roots and the people with boots on the ground did not support him, then it could be just fine. OR they could have gotten screwed.

I'm glad you know this Rappaport by reputation and if he'll do the right things, I'll be pleased as peach to be wrong.

He may be as talented as you say and STILL have to go along to keep his job and those under him. He may be "forced" to allow the 3 percenters that don't believe in global warming to have their "equal" time up against the rest of the scientific community.

Supposedly the other scientists were objecting that Proenza's public discussion of the pending loss of satellite information rattled public confidence in the NHC. What do they think will happen to public confidence if they make mistakes because they no longer have the data from the satellite?

I am really starting to wonder if the real problem was that Proenza was a Latino trying to run a white boys' club. I know that scientists are supposed to be above that sort of thing, but I've seen it happen elsewhere.

In only six months, he had half of his staff sign a petition to have him removed.

At first I thought the problem was Proenza was just standing up to the Bush administration, then when the staff revolt happened, I started questioning my original assumption. These are highly educated scientists, not bushbots. What was going on?

Some of the quotes coming out now from the staff (including his own admin assist.), talk about lack of trust in him, not willing to talk with him alone anymore, him being verbally abusive.

He's got to have the worst people skills in the world. In 6 months he's pissed off his whole management chain and everyone who works for him, that's quite an accomplishment.

.. be all over their increased risk, and will simply "have to" raise rates.

Mission Accomplished.

oh... hmm...