Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said that a new agency was being set up to examine and report on climate change issues.

Climate change data is critical to industry and government, said Lubchenco, since its effects could impact sectors from wind power producers to fisheries to public health and emergency management services.

The new Climate Service, which will be headed by Thomas Karl, current director of the National Climatic Data Center, will operate in tandem with NOAA’s National Weather Service and with the National Ocean Service.

Lubchenco said she anticipated that private businesses would arise to make use of the data from the new agency the same way they have done with the National Weather Service reports.

The new agency will require congressional committee approval but officials hope it will be created by the end of the year, reported the Associated Press.

NOAA has reported that the decade ending in 2009 is now the warmest on record worldwide, followed by the decade from 1990-1999.

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March 2010 News Team
Publisher: Chuck Meyer
Editor: John Rozsa