President Donald Trump's proposed budget has drawn sharp criticism for deep cuts to climate science programs, with the administration describing such research as a waste of taxpayer money. The budget, unveiled on Thursday, targets funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA, and United Nations climate initiatives.
Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney told reporters: 'I think the president was fairly straightforward, we're not spending money on that anymore. We consider that to be a waste of your money.' NOAA faces a $1.5 billion reduction, including the elimination of coastal research programmes and the $73 million Sea Grant programme, which supports marine science at universities in 33 states.
In Connecticut, the cuts could lead to 13 job losses at the University of Connecticut's Avery Point campus. Sylvain De Guise, administrator of the Connecticut Sea Grant programme, said: 'The budget for Sea Grant is just crumbs on the scale of the national budget, but these are crumbs that are meaningful to real people and real communities.' Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal vowed to fight the cuts 'tooth and nail'.
NASA's budget sees a slight overall reduction from $19.3 billion to $19.1 billion, but priorities shift away from earth science towards space exploration. Four climate-related missions are on the chopping block, including the PACE mission measuring ecosystem changes, the OCO-3 carbon dioxide tracker, the DSCOVR observatory championed by Al Gore, and the CLARREO Pathfinder heat measurement project. Acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot described the budget as 'positive overall'.
The State Department also faces cuts, including the elimination of the Global Climate Change Initiative and funding for UN climate programmes. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley expressed comfort with the reductions, though she did not specifically address climate change.
