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Trump is breaking apart a scientific crown jewel
The National Center for Atmospheric Research is a treasure. The Trump administration wants to dismantle it.
Cameron Peters is a staff editor at Vox.
Welcome to The Logoff: The Trump administration is moving to dismantle a critically important climate research center in Colorado.
What’s happening? US Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, a key architect of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, announced plans to break up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, or NCAR, in a Tuesday evening post, describing it as “one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country.”
NCAR is a world-class research hub in Boulder, Colorado, operated by a nonprofit but largely funded by the federal government through the National Science Foundation. Its importance is hard to overstate. One climate scientist described it as “the keystone holding up our scientific understanding of the planet.”
What does NCAR actually do? NCAR’s work includes lifesaving weather modeling and forecasting and cutting-edge climate change research. What the Trump administration describes as “climate alarmism” is simply an accurate accounting of reality — but one that is incompatible with the administration’s embrace of climate change denial and policies accelerating global warming.
What are the implications? Dismantling NCAR would cripple one of the world’s most important engines for weather forecasting and climate science, risking lives around the world and forcing scientific leadership into retreat.
Vought said Tuesday that “any vital activities such as weather research will be moved to another entity or location,” but the Trump administration has already made deep cuts to the one obvious option — the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — and its record on climate change means there’s good reason to doubt its definition of “vital.” And if the dismantling of USAID is any indication, the administration is better at tearing things down than building them back up.
Why target NCAR now? Hurting NCAR also hurts the state of Colorado, and Donald Trump is currently angry at Colorado Gov. Jared Polis for refusing to go along with his pretend pardon of 2020 election conspiracy theorist Tina Peters (presidents can only pardon federal offenses, and Peters was convicted on state charges).
And with that, it’s time to log off…
If you haven’t read Vox’s fantastic Escape Velocity package yet — all about why the clean energy revolution is coming, despite the best efforts of its opponents — there’s no better time than now. And if you want the short version, here’s my colleague Paige Vega on why our climate progress is not doomed.
Alternatively, if you want to get far away from politics news of any kind, here’s Seth Meyers and Sabrina Carpenter day-drinking; it’s exactly as fun as it sounds. Have a great evening, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow.
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