MISSISSIPPI WEB SITE

2007

   
STEVEN A. McCALEB
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Awarded 19 June 1969


 

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National Hurricane Center Director Bill Proenza lost his job Monday, 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.

I FIND IT SAD THAT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WOULD HIRE A QUALIFIED PERSON TO DO A JOB FOR THE PUBLIC, AND THEN FIRE HIM BECAUSE OF A KNOWN ORGANIZATION FOR POLICING ITSELF;  LIKE THE BAR ASSOCIATIONS.

I WOULD HOPE MR. BILL PROENZA WILL BE REINSTATED SO HE MAY DO HIS JOB, I BELIEVE THERE NEEDS TO BE OTHER PERSONAL REMOVED FROM NOAA INSTEAD OF MR. BILL PROENZA BEING REMOVED.

 

Hurricane Center chief out after office turmoil

By MARTIN MERZER
McCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

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MIAMI --

National Hurricane Center Director Bill Proenza lost his job Monday, 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 Anson Franklin, a NOAA spokesman.

Franklin would not say why the decision was made but did say: "Bill Proenza continues to serve as a NOAA employee."

It was unclear whether Proenza stepped down or was asked to leave his position.

A veteran hurricane forecaster who is highly regarded by his peers, Rappaport had been serving as the center's deputy director. The appointment is likely to prove popular with the shaken staff.

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 while hurricane researchers dealt with budget shortfalls and forecasters faced the eventual demise of an important satellite.

That satellite, 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, 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 would not significantly affect forecasts of landfalling hurricanes.

They worried that Proenza's statements were undermining public faith in their forecasts, which generally are remarkably accurate.

They seethed quietly for months, finally erupting last week after NOAA - at the request of several of Proenza's employees - dispatched to the Hurricane Center a team of five inspectors, including an attorney who specializes in personnel matters.

That night, hurricane forecaster Lixion Avila opened the gates, telling The Miami Herald that Proenza was becoming a liability.

The next day, three other senior forecasters told The Miami Herald that Proenza needed to go.