Former NOAA chief Neil Jacobs told lawmakers Wednesday he would “probably do some things differently” in response to questions over the 2019 “Sharpiegate” scandal, pledging at his confirmation hearing not to sign off again on an inaccurate hurricane forecast under political pressure.
Jacobs, nominated to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, came under fire during his time as acting administrator when he oversaw the release of a statement backing President Donald Trump’s false claim that Hurricane Dorian threatened Alabama in 2019. The move contradicted local forecasters and later led to a finding that Jacobs had violated the agency’s scientific integrity policy.
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The controversy, dubbed “Sharpiegate” after Trump displayed an altered forecast map marked with a black Sharpie marker, became a flashpoint over interference in federal science agencies.
Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) pressed Jacobs on the episode, pointing to the recent deadly floods in Texas and New Mexico as a stark reminder of the life-or-death stakes in public trust and accurate weather communication.
“You helped draft and release an unsigned NOAA statement rebuking the Birmingham NWS and repeating President Trump’s baseless claim,” Lujan said, citing the inspector general’s report, which found Jacobs told investigators he “definitely felt like our jobs were on the line” and the statement was “the least bad option.”
“Do I have it right?” Lujan asked.
Jacobs replied, “That’s what the IG report found, yes.” He added, “I mean, there’s probably some things I would do differently, and there’s a lot of things that I did after that to, you know, I guess change any potential future outcome.”
The nomination comes at a critical time as flash floods in New Mexico and Texas, where at least 119 people have died, and multiple communities remain under emergency.
Lujan, referencing the disaster in his home state, replied: “I ask those questions because I just had constituents die in New Mexico. We had constituents die in Texas.” He then asked directly: “Would you sign off on an inaccurate statement due to political pressure in the same event, yes or no?”
Jacobs answered plainly: “No.”
WHO IS NEIL JACOBS? MEET TRUMP’S NOMINEE TO LEAD NOAA IN THE WAKE OF TEXAS FLOODS
Jacobs led NOAA in an acting capacity from February 2019 through the end of the first Trump administration, stepping in after Trump’s original nominee, former AccuWeather CEO Barry Myers, withdrew from consideration in 2020 due to health problems.
Jacobs’s nomination to lead NOAA was approved by a Senate committee in 2020, but the full Senate never held a confirmation vote before the end of Trump’s term.