Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump's nominee to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration knows the agency very well -- he's the chief executive officer of a company that has fought over the use of the agency's data. For years, Barry Myers, the CEO of AccuWeather, pushed for private companies to be able to use and monetize the weather reporting gathered through US government satellites and accumulated through agencies like NOAA. If confirmed, the business leader whom the White House touted in a statement Wednesday as "one of the world's leading authorities on the use of weather information" would lead the agency charged with deciding how the public accesses that very same data.AccuWeather -- which is currently run by Myers' brother, Joel -- is a top private provider of weather dataBarry Myers would lead the agency charged with deciding how the public accesses that very same data
An _ spokesperson declined to comment specifically on the criticism being aimed at Myers and his brother's donations.