Major Colorado climate research center takes on Trump administration chopping block

The Trump administration plans to dismantle one of the world’s leading climate research institutions over what it said Tuesday were concerns about “climate alarmism,” despite opposition to the plan.

The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), established in 1960 as a federally funded research and education center in Boulder, Colorado, will be dismantled, White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought said on social media.

All its operations deemed “vital”, such as meteorological research, will be transferred “to another entity or another location”, he specified.

“This facility is one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country,” Vought said.

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The plan was first reported by USA Today. He said steps to dismantle the NCAR would begin immediately.

Kevin Trenberth, a prominent NCAR researcher, told the Washington Post that disbanding the lab would result in a major loss of scientific research.

Trenberth, an honorary academic in physics at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, said the center was crucial to the pursuit of advanced discoveries in climate science.

Antonio Busalacchi, president of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, which oversees NCAR, told the Post that “any plan to dismantle NSF NCAR would reduce our nation’s ability to predict, prepare for, and respond to extreme weather events and other natural disasters.” »

The White House noted that NCAR’s budget more than doubled between the 1980s and 1990s and called it “the premier research bastion for left-wing climate madness,” citing examples of its research on wind turbines and air pollution.

Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement Tuesday that he had not been briefed on the plans by White House officials, but said, “If true, public safety is at risk and science is under attack.”

He said part of NCAR’s work provides data on severe weather events “that help our nation save lives and property, and avoid devastation for families.”

“If these reductions continue, we will lose our competitive advantage against foreign powers and adversaries in the pursuit of scientific discovery,” Polis said.

President Trump has sought during his second term to roll back clean energy and climate initiatives put in place under his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden.

Mr. Trump has called climate change a “scam” and, in a speech to the United Nations in September, called it “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated” on the world.