In last year’s presidential election, voters might not have realized that they were voting for deep cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, but as The New York Times reported, that’s what Americans are getting anyway.
The Trump administration has begun firing employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, one of the world’s premier centers for climate science. The firings are expected to cost more than 800 people their jobs, out of a total of about 13,000 staff members, according to two people familiar with the situation who declined to be identified for fear of retribution. The notifications went out on Thursday afternoon.
The Washington Post reported that among the fired employees are those “responsible for producing critical weather forecasts, maintaining radar systems, gathering data from satellites and monitoring key commercial fisheries.”
The average person might not think much about NOAA on a day-to-day basis, but as Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington said in a statement, the effects of these cuts are likely to reverberate.
“Whether they know it or not, every American in every part of the country relies on NOAA every day — for everything from weather forecasts and storm warnings to the restoration and management of our marine resources and fisheries, which is especially important in Washington state,” the senator said.
Murray, who serves the vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, added, “Now Trump and Elon Musk are aiming their wrecking ball at NOAA and mass firing scientists, weather forecasters, and so many others for no reason. … Reliable forecasting saves lives and property — so much of our economy hinges on accurate weather predictions, whether it’s agriculture or shipping routes. This is dangerous and could be catastrophic for our economy.”
As for why, exactly, this is a priority for the Republican administration, neither the White House nor the Department of Commerce, which oversees NOAA, have publicly shed light on the motivation for the cuts. That said, The Hill reported that the far-right Project 2025 blueprint called for “privatizing and reassigning” nearly all of the agency’s functions.
In fact, the document, published by the Heritage Foundation, specifically referred to NOAA as “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry.” In other words, NOAA officials provided the public with accurate information about the climate crisis; the authors of Project 2025 found those truths inconvenient; and now the Trump administration is undermining the agency in a way that’s likely to set it back years. A Politico report noted last week that the White House’s “promised assault on federal climate policies” is advancing at a speed “that’s surprising even some of his supporters and critics — and could leave an impact on the planet’s future well after his presidency.” That assault is ongoing.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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