President Biden announced Thursday that he would appoint Rick Spinrad, professor of oceanography at Oregon State University, to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the country’s leading climate science agency.
The announcement may mark a new chapter for NOAA that has been a source of tension at times for former President Donald J. Trump, who publicly engaged with the agency’s scientists and failed to get any of his candidates to take the Senate-approved leadership take. NOAA has been without a Senate-approved leader since its inception in 1970.
In 2019, Mick Mulvaney, who was Mr. Trump’s acting White House Chief of Staff at the time, urged NOAA to reject statements by its weather forecasters that contradicted the president’s statements about the path of Hurricane Dorian. Last year, the government removed NOAA’s chief scientist from his role and added people who questioned the science of climate change to senior roles at the agency.
Dr. Spinrad is a former chief scientist at NOAA, where he also ran the agency’s research office and the National Ocean Service. The timing of Mr Biden’s announcement was remarkable – Earth Day amid a two-day climate change summit pledging the United States to cut emissions in half by the end of the decade.
The selection of Dr. Spinrad was quickly praised by scientific politicians on Thursday evening.
“We commend the Biden administration for continuing to nominate credible and well-qualified candidates who understand the urgency of the climate crisis,” said Sally Yozell, director of the environmental security program at the Stimson Center, a Washington think tank, in a statement.
Counteradministrator Jonathan White, the president and chief executive officer of the Ocean Guidance Consortium, named Dr. Spinwheel as “an excellent choice for this important role”.
