Gordon, Lampson, Miller Comment on Former Hurricane Center Director’s Reassignment to NWS Southern Regional Office
(Washington, DC) Since news of National Hurricane Center Director Bill Proenza’s forced departure from his post earlier this year, the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology has undertaken an investigation of events surrounding the dismissal and subsequent actions.
Joint hearings held by the Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight and the Subcommittee on Energy and Environment brought to light troubling findings that the Committee continues to investigate.
In August, Chairmen Nick Lampson (D-TX) and Brad Miller (D-NC) sent a letter to NOAA Administrator Lautenbacher urging that – based upon his exemplary record and outstanding service – Mr. Proenza be given his old job back as Director of the National Weather Service’s Southern Regional office in Texas.
Today, NOAA announced that Mr. Proenza has indeed been reassigned to the Southern Regional Office.
Chairmen Lampson and Miller, and the Chairman of the full Committee Bart Gordon (D-TN) offered the following comment on Mr. Proenza’s reassignment:
“We are pleased that NOAA is sending Mr. Proenza back to the Southern Region. His experience and talents were too important for the Weather Service to lose and he was widely admired for his work in the region. We recommended that he resume his post as Director of the Southern Region and we believe this is the best outcome given the circumstances. It would also have been grossly unfair to give Mr. Proenza a drastic demotion given the conflicting accounts of what happened at the Tropical Prediction Center (TPC).”
“We remain concerned about how NOAA will get the TPC headed in the right direction. Mr. Proenza initiated precisely the kinds of culture-challenging changes that the Turner Review identified to keep the TPC at the forefront of predictive science. After pulling Proenza out of the Center just a few months into his tenure due to discontent among the hurricane forecasting staff, we wonder how NOAA can recruit new leadership that will implement a new agenda to address problems identified at the TPC.”
“The Committee will continue to review the decisions that led to Proenza being pulled out of the Center and will watch carefully as a search for a new leader unfolds.”
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