Overview
- The entire Climate.gov content production staff were dismissed from their government contract on May 31, halting plans for new articles after the site drew hundreds of thousands of monthly visitors.
- Former NOAA officials describe the firings as a targeted effort by political appointees to curtail public access to unbiased climate science information.
- Since early 2025, the Trump administration has cut roughly 1,000 NOAA positions—about 10 percent of its workforce—and retired key resources like the Billion-Dollar Disaster Database.
- Experts warn that without its independent communications team, Climate.gov could be repurposed to spread anti-science or propaganda content.
- Congress is reviewing the FY2026 budget, which proposes deep reductions to NOAA’s climate research, education and grant programs, heightening broader concerns over federal science funding.