White House Announces New Climate Service

The Obama administration announced Monday that plans are underway for a new office to take on climate change, hoping to help businesses map out ways to make the U.S. a more eco-friendly economy.

A new website, www.climate.gov, was up Monday to pool government resources on climate change for business, scholars and the general public, reported AFP.

According to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, the new Climate Service would give businesses an edge on matters like wind power by providing data on wind patterns necessary for expansion.

"The bottom line is this — the better climate information that alternative energy companies have, the more profitable they can be, the more jobs they can create and the more they can actually meet the energy demands of our country and indeed the world," Locke told reporters.

He compared the initiative to the National Weather Service, which he said drove a private industry of forecasters who benefit from the government data.

The Climate Service would consolidate resources that are currently dispersed throughout the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency that works under the Commerce Department. There would also be six regional offices across the nation.

Locke said he expects the Climate Service to be up and running before the 2011 fiscal year begins. The administration would start by consulting with Congress, but new legislation will not likely be necessary, he said.

The initiative is the Obama administration’s latest effort to take action on climate change in the face of uncertainty in this area of politics.

Last year, the House of Representatives approved a landmark plan to impose the first U.S. nationwide caps on emissions of carbon dioxide, which scientists believe is contributing to a hazardous warming of the planet.

However, the legislation is stymied in the Senate, where the Democratic Party lost a seat to a critic of the climate bill last month.