Trump-Linked weather privatization plan raises ethics concerns as commerce chief Lutnick faces scrutiny
Trump picks people with business ties to weather companies
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Howard Lutnick is the U.S. Commerce Secretary now. He used to run a big money company called Cantor Fitzgerald, but handed it over to his two sons after getting the government job, as per the reports.Lutnick now helps oversee government weather agencies like the National Weather Service and NOAA. These agencies give people free weather info, especially important during natural disasters like the recent deadly Texas flooding, according to the report by AP.Trump's team and some Republicans have been trying to privatize weather forecasting for years. If this happens, private companies would sell weather info, and free government data could be cut down, according to the reports.Experts like Rick Spinrad, former NOAA chief under Biden, are worried that poor people might not get accurate weather info unless they pay. Spinrad said: 'It's like turning the weather service into Netflix for weather,' according to the report by Associated Press.Trump's picks for weather jobs have ties to private weather companies. His NOAA nominee Neil Jacobs used to work for Panasonic Weather and supports privatization.Another nominee, Taylor Jordan, is a lobbyist for weather clients like AccuWeather, Spire, and Lynker.The Commerce Dept said they'd follow ethics rules and get legal advice before working on issues linked to old clients, as per the report by Associated Press.Elon Musk gave over $250 million to support Trump. His companies SpaceX and Starlink are regulated by the NOAA's space office, which lost 1/3 of its staff after budget cuts pushed by a Trump-linked efficiency group.These staff cuts might help Musk's companies grow in the weather satellite market. Musk has left Washington and is not close to Trump anymore, but his influence remains. Musk didn't respond to questions about this, as per the report by Associated Press.Even though Lutnick quit as CEO, he's still selling off his shares in Cantor Fitzgerald. His sons, Brandon and Kyle Lutnick, now run the company. He asked for a waiver to work on things that could affect his family's business during his divestment process, as per the reports.Cantor Fitzgerald owns part of a weather company called Satellogic, which makes disaster and weather images using satellites. Lutnick helped raise money for Satellogic and was on its board. Cantor still owns around 13% of Satellogic, as mentioned in the report by Associated Press.U.S. officials can't make decisions that help their own or spouse's businesses, but that rule doesn't apply to their adult kids. Lutnick's ethics plan says he's following the rules, but experts are still concerned about conflicts of interest.Cantor, while under Lutnick, paid a $6.75 million SEC fine for giving misleading info to investors about Satellogic. Trump's 2026 budget plan wants to cut $8 billion from NOAA's satellite program, as stated by reports.If NOAA pulls back, companies like Satellogic could take over and profit. Satellogic says it can give real-time weather images and claims it's ready to 'dominate the Earth Observation industry', as per the report by Associated Press.Neil Jacobs, Trump's NOAA nominee, has been acting NOAA head before and wants private firms to do more forecasting.He's worked with Spire Global and Lynker, who get millions from NOAA, as per the reports.Jacobs also said the U.S. should stop giving commercial weather data for free to the world. Taylor Jordan, another nominee, still works at a lobbying firm representing many weather-related companies, according to the report by Associated Press.Howard Lutnick is the U.S. Commerce Secretary and used to run Cantor Fitzgerald, a firm linked to private weather businesses.Experts say it could limit free weather info for poor people if private firms take over.
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