Alarm bells are ringing as agents of the new DOGE agency are reported to have marched in to the headquarters of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as part of a slash and burn sweep by the Trump administration to eliminate inconvenient sectors of government.
A number of voices have already raised the alarm, and Oceana warns of the potential fallout from cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s budget, personnel, or mission. NOAA is a world-renowned science agency providing critical services including managing national fisheries, monitoring and forecasting weather, charting oceans and operating satellites that inform decision making.
‘NOAA touches our lives every day — no matter where you live,’ said Oceana’s Beth Lowell.
‘Withdrawing resources from NOAA will have a ripple effect that sacrifices the communities, jobs, and coastal economies that rely on healthy oceans. And the National Weather Service, part of NOAA, provides daily weather forecasts and lifesaving storm alerts that protect our communities across the country and mariners at sea. Millions of Americans depend on thriving oceans and productive fisheries for their jobs, businesses, and seafood dinners, and our oceans depend on NOAA. President Trump, his administration, and Congress must safeguard our waters for all who depend on well-managed oceans, and that requires full support of NOAA.’
Commentator Andrew A Rosenberg goes further in his predictions, stating that the plan is to reduce the agency’s workforce by 50% and its budget by 30%.
‘The plan for NOAA is – break it apart. Eliminate climate science and services. Send various pieces to other agencies regardless of the fit. Privatize what weather service so that already wealthy people (e.g. AccuWeather) can make even more money at the expense of service to the general public,’ he stated, and commented that a longstanding goal of corporations that rely on NOAA data is to prevent the agency from making the data public, instead of giving it directly to private corporations that create products based on it, such as weather forecasting services.
‘With Musk and his non-governmental DOGE lads in the building, it seems like slash and burn will be the order of the day. Confidential information, privacy, services to the public be damned. The combination of DOGE and Project 2025 is truly frightening. Destructive, uncaring and ill-conceived.’
Andrew Rosenberg comments that there is no legal authority to abolish NOAA or reduce its budget, outside of reducing it through Congress.
‘Should the administration achieve these illegal cuts to NOAA’s staff and resources, the impacts would be devastating for not only the nation, but the world.’
