Trump Moves to Gut NOAA’s Climate Research

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Trump administration is moving to eliminate the research arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and end the agency's support for weather and climate research, according to published reports on its budget proposal. 

Its budget plan would also weaken hurricane forecasting by eliminating a system to track ocean conditions that affect the weather and storms.

This follows other news this week that the administration has laid off all of the staff working on the U.S. Global Change Research Program, the coordinating body responsible for the foundational report that comes out every four years on how climate change is impacting and will impact America and its economy. 

The following is a statement from Ticora Jones, chief science officer at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):

“Cutting federal climate research won’t eliminate the threats from intense heat waves, unprecedented hurricanes, or devastating flooding—it will just make our nation far less able to prepare for them. 

“This is like turning off your headlights while driving at night on a winding road. Not knowing the dangers ahead doesn’t mean they don’t exist.   

“Trump’s fossil fuel donors want to hide the realities of climate change so they can keep polluting—and keep padding their profits. The rest of us need to know the facts. Eliminating this crucial research leaves us all in the dark about the perils ahead.”  

NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Established in 1970, NRDC uses science, policy, law and people power to confront the climate crisis, protect public health and safeguard nature. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Beijing and Delhi (an office of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd).