On December 16, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought announced that the Trump administration would dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), which hosts “the largest federal research program on climate change, supports research to predict, prepare for and respond to severe weather and other natural disasters.” He vaguely said that it would be moved into another location. The day after, the NSF announced that it would review the structure of the NCAR.
The White House offered contradictory reasons for destroying the NCAR. One official blamed Colorado Governor Jared Polis, while White House spokesman Kush Desai said that Polis did not factor into the decision. Trump has sought to punish Colorado after Polis refused to pardon Tina Peters, a criminal who attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 Presidential election. The White House also criticized the NCAR for being “woke,” but did not offer examples of any scientific or functional shortcomings within the organization.
One instance of “wokeness,” the Trump administration suggests, is that the NCAR intends to “demonize motor vehicles, oil and gas operations.” There is no evidence of this. However, this complaint does point to Trump’s bottom line.
Oil and gas PACs provided $11,089,723 to Republicans during the 2024 election cycle.
Gabriel Alexander — Trumpfile
The NCAR consists of over 130 universities and colleges cooperating on a range of scientific research. It has provided the United States with global leadership regarding earth science.
For climate scientists the lab “is quite literally our global mothership,” said Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist and Distinguished Professor at Texas Tech University.
“NCAR supports the scientists who fly into hurricanes, the meteorologists who develop new radar technology, the physicists who envision and code new weather models, and yes — the largest community climate model in the world. That too,” Hayhoe said in a social media post.
“Dismantling NCAR is like taking a sledgehammer to the keystone holding up our scientific understanding of the planet,” she said.
PBS
Polis warned that its destruction would jeopardize the safety of firefighters, members of the armed forces, and entire communities in the face of severe weather events. He was joined by the American Meteorological Society, which cautioned the dismantling of the NCAR would put the nation’s life, property, and economy at risk.
On March 16, the NCAR sued the Trump administration over the closure. There is good basis for this lawsuit, as the NCAR is funded by the United States National Science Foundation, an independent federal agency; the President has no unilateral power to shut down the NCAR without Congressional approval.
