The Trump administration has announced plans to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, accusing it of spreading 'climate alarmism'. Russell Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, stated that the facility, operated under the National Science Foundation, would be broken up, with any vital activities such as weather research moved elsewhere.
The decision has drawn fierce criticism from climate experts and local officials. Colorado Governor Jared Polis warned that the move puts 'public safety at risk', noting that NCAR provides crucial data on severe weather events like fires and floods that help save lives and property. Roger Pielke Jr of the American Enterprise Institute called the centre a 'crown jewel' of US science that deserves improvement, not closure.
NCAR employs around 830 staff and operates the Mesa Laboratory in Boulder, two research aircraft, and a supercomputing facility in Wyoming. The administration has identified several projects it deems wasteful, including a Rising Voices Center for Indigenous and Earth Sciences and research into wind turbines, which President Trump has repeatedly denounced.
This move is part of a broader pattern of climate-sceptic actions by the Trump administration, which has also proposed a 30% cut to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's budget. Trump has frequently characterised climate change as a 'con job' or 'hoax'.
