Based Underground is now a conservative news aggregator AND curated newsletter.
(DCNF)—The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has committed to improving the “documentation and transparency” of a key data set frequently cited by activists and policymakers to suggest that climate change is getting worse.
Roger Pielke Jr., a former environmental studies professor at the University of Colorado, requested that NOAA correct its billion dollar disasters (BDD) dataset in January, alleging that the dataset’s sourcing and methodology are not sufficiently transparent for the metric to inform policy. NOAA responded to Pielke’s correction request on Aug. 21, admitting that the dataset has not undergone external peer review since 2015 and committing to improving its “documentation and transparency” of the dataset’s component parts going forward.
BDD data keeps track of natural disasters that caused $1 billion or more in inflation-adjusted damages going back to 1980, with NOAA and the Biden White House contending that the increasing frequency of BDD events evidences worsening climate change. However, BDD is an economic statistic rather than an indicator of changing meteorological conditions; the same exact hurricane could hit the same exact city 100 years apart, but the damage totals for each storm would be vastly different given that there are more assets to be destroyed in harm’s way now than there were a century ago.
NOAA BDD RFC Response by Nick Pope on Scribd:
In response to Pielke’s request, NOAA said it would start disclosing more of the publicly available sources that it uses to craft its data, formalize and disclose the steps the agency takes to ensure the BDD data’s “robustness” and set up a peer-review system that is consistent with NOAA’s own policies.
“NOAA made some difficult admissions here about the fact that the BDD tabulation has failed to meet their standards for scientific integrity and information quality,” Pielke, who believes climate change is a serious problem, told the DCNF. “The BDD tabulation is clever marketing and the media love it. However, no one should mistake it as science.”
Pielke addressed NOAA’s response to his request in an Aug. 21 post to his Substack page, writing that “these responses and admissions clearly indicate that the NOAA tabulation is not suitable for research.” He added that NOAA’s response to his correction request concedes that “historical versions of the tabulation (and thus new entries and changes to it) are only available since 2020,” meaning “that 40 of (almost) 44 years of the tabulation lack basic information on the loss estimates and how they were originally compiled.”
While BDD’s critics contend it is a flawed metric to use as a proxy for the intensity of climate change, the statistic was used in a landmark climate report published by the Biden administration in 2023 and cited as evidence to support the administration’s freeze on approvals for new liquified natural gas export terminals by Deputy Energy Secretary David Turk in written testimony submitted to Congress in February.
“NOAA notes that the RFC [request for correction] did not identify specific data points that need correcting. In conducting its review of the RFC, NOAA has not identified any data inaccuracies in the Billion Dollar Disaster data set,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation. “NOAA has determined the U.S. Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters data set meets the threshold for influential scientific information (ISI) under NOAA’s Information Quality Guidelines. As a result, NOAA will review and update its management practices for the data set.”
The actions NOAA will take to improve its BDD data include “disclosing and facilitating access to several publicly available input sources; disclosing and facilitating access to methodologically relevant factors, such as insurance penetration rates and underlying economic data; formalizing procedures currently used to check the robustness of NOAA’s analyses, and stating these on the Billion Dollar Disaster website; and, instituting a peer-review cycle consistent with the data set’s ISI determination,” NOAA added in its statement.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].
Mysterious “Skyquakes” Are Causing Strange “Booms” in the Sky, and Scientists Have No Explanation
by Michael Snyder
(End of the American Dream)—What is causing the extremely loud “booms” that people are hearing in the sky all over the world? We are being told that “skyquakes” are responsible, but scientists have no idea why these “skyquakes” are occurring. In some cases, the “skyquakes” cause such powerful shaking that…
The Biggest Sale on Long-Term Storage Beef EVER
by Sponsored Post
Let’s cut to the chase. Prepper All-Naturals is offering an unprecedented 40% off for it’s “Beef Steak” survival bags with promo code “steak40”. With a 25-year shelf life and a single ingredient (beef, of course), our most popular product is available for a very limited time with the biggest discount…
Seattle Is Ordered to Stop Blocking Illegal Alien Deportations in the Most Hilarious Court Decision Ever
by PJ Media
A federal court has just pooped in the oatmeal of the West Coast, Messed Coast™governors and local election officials suffering from acute cases of Trump Derangement Syndrome who think they can stop illegal alien deportations. And after this hilarious and thorough legal takedown from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals,…
Illegal Alien Terror Suspect Found Dead in Cook County Jail Cell
by Slay News
An Islamic illegal alien has been found dead in his jail cell after being arrested on terrorism charges. According to CWBChicago, 22-year-old Sidi Mohamed Abdallahi was found dead at the Cook County jail in Illinois on Saturday. Abdallahi was arrested on felony terrorism and hate crime charges in October. He…
Trump’s Wild Bunch Is Ready for Action
by Frank Miele
If for no other reason than that it will elicit fear in the hearts of autocracy-phobics, I propose that Donald Trump’s second-term Cabinet be known as “The Wild Bunch.” The name is best known as the title of Sam Peckinpah’s classic 1969 western featuring a colorful cast of aging outlaws…
FAA Issues Flight Restrictions Over Questionable Drone Activity Near Trump’s Bedminster Golf Course
by Just The News
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Tuesday said that it has issued two flight restrictions on the area surrounding President-elect Donald Trump’s Bedminster golf club in New Jersey, following questionable drone activity. The drone sightings were first reported on Nov. 18, but have continued into this week, according to Fox…
Ex-FBI Agent Convicted for Stealing From Jan 6 Defendant During Raid
by Trending Politics
A former Houston-based FBI agent has been convicted of stealing valuables and cash while conducting searches. In one instance, the agent stole cash and silver bars from a non-violent January 6 defendant’s home. Nicholas Anthony Williams, 36, was indicted on January 31 in the Southern District of Texas. Williams, who…
Democrats, Media Elite Urge Biden to Pardon Trump’s Alleged ‘Enemies List’
by Breitbart
President Joe Biden should issue preemptive pardons to his political allies and those deemed to be on President-elect Donald Trump’s alleged “enemies list,” Democrats and their media allies believe. Delivering a preemptive pardon indicates an admission of guilt, although Democrats claim a preemptive pardon would only be intended to block…
Fani Willis Forced to Release All Communications With Jack Smith, J6 Committee
by Trending Politics
The Fulton County Superior Court has ruled against District Attorney Fani Willis, ordering her to disclose communications with Special Counsel Jack Smith and the House January 6 Committee. The decision, announced on Tuesday, follows a lawsuit brought by Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group, which accused Willis of violating Georgia’s…
Lindsey Graham Is the Warmongering NeoCon Leading the Charge to Upend Pete Hegseth
by JD Rucker
Pete Hegseth represents a shift away from the wokeness that has infected the United States military. This is possibly the biggest reason President-Elect Donald Trump tapped him to be the next Secretary of Defense and the vast majority of Republicans on Capitol Hill can support this, at least for the…
‘Where Are Black Democrats?’: Charles Payne Tells Personal Story to Call Out ‘Huge Double Standard’ of Biden Family
by Nicole Silverio, DCNF
(DCNF)—Fox Business host Charles Payne called out the alleged “huge double standard” of President Joe Biden’s family Tuesday by revealing that his brother, who struggles with a crack addiction, is currently serving a jail sentence. Payne said his brother, who is getting out of jail on Friday, is likely one…
Zelensky Admits Ukraine Can’t Retake All Its Land: ‘We Must Seek Diplomatic Means’
by Breitbart
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky conceded in an interview on Tuesday that Ukraine does not have “enough forces” to restore sovereignty over Russian-occupied Crimea and “must seek diplomatic means” to end the Russian invasion and regain its land. The state-run Ukrinform outlet reported that Zelensky described Crimea – which Russia colonized…
Ultra-Processed Foods: How Bad Are They for Your Health?
by Olivia Cook
(Natural News)—Despite the serious health risks associated with eating junk food, they remain the most consumed food products in many countries, particularly developed ones. But a review published in The BMJ, which studied 9.8 million people, warns that eating a lot of ultra-processed foods can increase your risk for 32 diseases. Among these are heart…
“Already Pretty Far Down the Line”: The Container Store Could File for Bankruptcy as Soon as Next Year
by Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge
(Zero Hedge)—As the retail apocalypse that started with Amazon and e-commerce continues, the latest victim is The Container Store. The retail giant could file for bankruptcy as soon as next year, according to the New York Post, who said the retailer is blaming its recent descent on “a weak housing…
Mysterious ‘Car-Sized Drones’ Over New Jersey Prompt FBI Investigation
by Zero Hedge
Several weeks of mysterious drone swarms over the skies of one New Jersey county near the military research and manufacturing facility Picatinny Arsenal have sparked concerns among residents and prompted an FBI investigation. “It’s kind of unsettling,” Mike Walsh, a Morris County resident who has spotted the drones on numerous…
UNESCO’s New Mission: Train Influencers About Combatting Online “Misinformation”
by Reclaim the Net
The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is now incorporating teaching influencers how to “fact check” into its activities. UNESCO claims that influencers have become “primary sources of news and cultural information” around the world – which prompted it to carry out a survey into how these online personalities…
