‘Sharpiegate’ meteorologist confirmed as NOAA chief

The Senate has voted to confirm President Trump’s pick to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as part of a group of nominees confirmed en masse.

The Senate voted 51-47 on the entire bloc of 107 nominations, including the confirmation of Neil Jacobs as the under secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere.

Jacobs may be best known for his role in the “Sharpiegate” scandal under the last Trump administration. At the time, NOAA released a statement backing Trump and bucking the National Weather Service after the president insisted that Hurricane Dorian had been slated to hit Alabama.

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A 2020 report on the incident found that Jacobs violated NOAA’s Scientific Integrity Policy.

During his confirmation hearing, Jacobs said, “there’s probably some things I would do differently” in regards to the incident, and said he would not sign off on inaccurate statements due to political pressure. 

His confirmation comes at a time when funding and personnel at NOAA, and particularly the National Weather Service, have come under intense scrutiny as the Trump administration seeks to downsize the government. 

Jacobs told Congress that if confirmed, weather service staffing would be “top priority.”

NOAA is the nation’s agency for air and oceans research, including research related to climate change, fisheries and the weather. 

The president has described climate change as a “hoax” despite consensus from the scientific community that human activity is heating the planet.

In his confirmation hearing, Jacobs told lawmakers that a mix of both human activity and “natural signals” were contributing to the issue. 

Updated on Oct. 8 at 7:31 a.m. EDT