Overview
- OMB Director Russ Vought announced the plan to break up the Boulder-based National Center for Atmospheric Research, calling it a source of “climate alarmism” and saying “vital” functions would be relocated.
- UCAR president Antonio Busalacchi said NSF sent a letter of intent requesting information on divesting, transferring or restructuring NCAR components, including research aircraft and the Cheyenne supercomputing center.
- NSF said it is reviewing NCAR’s research and observational infrastructure and will engage agencies and the research community to rescope functions such as weather modeling and space weather research.
- USA Today reported the administration intends to close NCAR’s Mesa Laboratory in Boulder, while the White House framed the action as eliminating “Green New Scam” activities and criticized programs it labeled “woke.”
- Colorado officials and scientists condemned the move, with Gov. Jared Polis and Rep. Joe Neguse pledging to fight it, as experts warn dismantling NCAR would undercut U.S. forecasting, disaster preparedness and global research efforts.