About 650 employees of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which is headquartered in Silver Spring, lost their jobs this week as part of the Trump Administration’s cuts.
NOAA has offices in every state, and a panel of U.S. legislators and former NOAA employees were not able to pinpoint specifically where the cuts were made.
However, they all agreed Friday that these job cuts as well as likely future ones will affect weather forecasting, warnings concerning fires and storms and businesses such as fisheries, farms and tourism that depends on knowing the weather.
“Our country right now is under assault from the highest office in the land,” said U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, one of the panelists on the virtual call.
He called NOAA “our first line of defense against extreme weather events. Without advance weather warnings, “People will die.”
Van Hollen said the cuts also will harm the country’s efforts concerning climate change as people will not be able to get the data they need.
“This has nothing to do with government efficiencies,” he said of the job terminations as well as threats that some of NOAA’s 620 offices throughout the country will be eliminated when leases are cut short. “What you are seeing now is an assault on that science,” he said, referring to climate change.
Van Hollen predicted that the Trump Administration will allow weather forecasting and data collection to be taken up by private industry. “Someone will make a big profit,” he said.
Fellow panelist U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman of California agreed, predicting that people will end up paying to learn their local weather.
“These cuts will put some people in danger. This isn’t some game,” Huffman said, predicting that Trump’s “massive purge of the federal workforce” will hurt not only specific programs but also the reputation and standing of the United States.
Both Huffman and Van Hollen said that while the Democrats are in the minority in Congress, they are not powerless. They are using the courts to fight back, they said.
“We are fighting like hell to reverse these illegal actions,” Van Hollen said.
Dr. Rick Spinrad, an oceanographer who in 2021 was named 11th administrator at NOAA, bemoaned that “every office in NOAA was hit by these indiscriminate” firings. He went on to list numerous services that will be hindered due to these cuts, from the tracking of hurricanes and tornados to future information that farmers need about upcoming seasons.
Flights may be disturbed when accurate weather forecasting is not forthcoming, he said, adding that he wondered who would be around to keep track of the 30,000 objects in space.
Spinrad also pointed out that not only did the United States just lose “young dedicated” workers but also the next generation of scientists, who will shy away from government jobs.
Research will be compromised, forecasts will be eroded, he said.
Capt. Craig McClean, a former director of research at NOAA, said that the world looks to America for “the best climate model in the world.” That could end, and “China could replace the United States in leadership.”
Sally Yozell, a former deputy secretary for oceans and atmosphere at NOAA, pointed out that 30 U.S. states are coastal states that “all rely on clean water.”
Jeff Watters, vice president of external affairs at The Ocean Conservancy in Washington, D.C., wrote in a news release, “The indiscriminate firing of employees is going to sabotage NOAA’s ability to do essential work that every single American relies on. NOAA is the eyes and ears for our water and air – the agency tracks our weather and climate; monitors tides and surf forecasts; allows for the safe deployment and navigation of satellites, ships, and doppler radar.”
