Trump Admin Seeks to Eliminate NOAA Climate Research in New Proposal
The Trump administration has proposed pulling all funding for climate research at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), along with research at its weather laboratories, according to reports.
A budget document urges pulling funding for multiple areas like NOAA’s weather research program, including its tornado and severe storm research centers, and shutting down weather and climate laboratories.
The document came after the Trump administration indicated that it wanted to eliminate NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR).
The OAR is where a lot of climate and weather research is conducted.
The Trump administration has also slammed scientists for warning about the dangers and potential threats of climate change, Just The News reported.
The budget document is only a proposal, and all final funding decisions are made by Congress.
The proposal came during hurricane season in the Atlantic, and as the West Coast braces for fire season.
Hurricane season typically begins in June and runs through November.
The Hill reports: The document calls for no funding to go to the agency’s climate laboratories or regional climate data and information centers.
It also wants to zero out research at NOAA’s weather research program and weather laboratories, as well as its tornado and severe storm research divisions.
The budget document also calls for a shutdown of weather and climate laboratories around the country, including a lab in Mauna Loa, Hawaii, that tracks greenhouse gas emissions, and another in Miami whose research includes hurricane studies.
Overall, the document calls for reducing the agency’s full-time staff by 2,061 people when compared with fiscal 2024 — a 17 percent cut.
Dramatic cuts to climate research are not necessarily a surprise, as President Trump has repeatedly denied and downplayed the threat of climate change.
His administration has sought to cut climate programs and roll back climate regulations.
A previously released budget document indicated that the administration wanted to eliminate NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, where much of its climate research is conducted.
Typically, administration budgets are ignored, and ultimately what gets funded is up to Congress.
However, administration budgets have taken on a particular significance in this administration, as its Department of Government Efficiency seeks to cut staffing — particularly in offices that do not align with the administration’s priorities.
READ: Majority of Americans Want the Government to Stop Spraying the Skies, Poll