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Friday, February 21, 1997

Decision postponed on closing Fort Worth weather service office

By MICHELLE MITTELSTADT Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Authorities have postponed a decision on whether to close the National Weather Service's Fort Worth regional office, which oversees field operations in 10 states.

A high-ranking NWS official had been expected to fly Friday to Fort Worth to inform the regional office's 60 employees of their job future.

That meeting was scrapped as well as the teleconference call that was to have replaced it.

Members of Congress, Texas emergency preparedness officials and others have been protesting an as-yet unreleased plan to shut down the Southern Region office and divvy up its functions among NWS regional offices in Missouri and New York.

Critics contend shutdown of the Fort Worth office, which oversees the nation's most active weather zone, could affect public safety.

NWS officials say they must tighten agency operations to make up for a $27 million shortfall.

The Fort Worth region oversees field operations in New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

Officials from NWS and its parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, were summoned Wednesday to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's office to discuss the plan with her staffers as well as those of several Dallas-Fort Worth area House members.

According to congressional staffers, the NWS and NOAA representatives agreed to delay their decision while they fulfill the lawmakers' request to show that shutdown wouldn't result in degradation of service. The legislators also want a copy of the headquarters streamlining plan.

NWS spokeswoman Randee Exler declined to discuss the meeting or any commitments made by her agency.

Southern Region deputy director Bill Proenza said Thursday that he has been informed a decision could come as early as next week. "We're still in a waiting posture," he said.

Proenza has suggested headquarters may be seeking to deflect job cuts in Washington by making them elsewhere. Congress mandated last year that headquarters staff be trimmed first.

Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, said she wants to be sure weather forecasts don't suffer by the agency's decision. Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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