Mar 14, 2025 10:41 PM
(This post was last modified: Mar 14, 2025 10:53 PM by C C.)
After Cuts, Former NOAA Chief Scientist Says U.S. Science Risks Becoming a “Backwater Enterprise”
https://www.biographic.com/after-cuts-fo...nterprise/
EXCERPT: The United States passed the Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act, establishing, among other things, NOAA’s Ocean Acidification Program. Over the subsequent 15 years, this program’s small team has partnered with universities and scientific institutions around the world to study how to protect oceans and marine life, and the millions of people who depend on them for food and fortune. It’s one small part of NOAA’s overall work measuring greenhouse gas emissions, modeling the global climate, monitoring and protecting fish and marine mammals, restoring and protecting coastlines from erosion and floods, providing marine navigation data, and even predicting space weather.
Sarah Cooley had worked alongside the Ocean Acidification Program for its entire existence—from her early career as a researcher to her more recent role as a senior director at the nonprofit Ocean Conservancy. “I was one of the external partners pointing to the work that this program was doing and working with Congress to make sure there was adequate funding for the science that needed to be done,” she says.
The firings were spurred by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—a Trump administration effort that has no authorization from Congress but has so far fired tens of thousands of federal workers. DOGE has also proposed canceling leases on NOAA offices and research facilities and on numerous other federal properties across the country. According to multiple reports, NOAA is bracing for another round of firings which could, when combined with previous job losses, mean NOAA’s staff shrinks by a fifth.
Scientists abroad who work with NOAA are sounding the alarm about the cuts and firings. Jean-Pierre Gattuso, an oceanographer with the French National Centre for Scientific Research and Sorbonne University who frequently collaborates with NOAA researchers, says the agency’s roles in global ocean and atmospheric research are “absolutely essential.”
“I find the situation at NOAA … very, very concerning,” he says. “I think it will hurt the U.S. a lot. It’s very sad, this situation.”
Craig McLean, who was NOAA’s assistant administrator for research from 2015 to 2022, worries the Trump administration’s policies will turn the United States’ ocean science efforts into a “backwater enterprise.” (MORE - missing details)
https://www.biographic.com/after-cuts-fo...nterprise/
EXCERPT: The United States passed the Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act, establishing, among other things, NOAA’s Ocean Acidification Program. Over the subsequent 15 years, this program’s small team has partnered with universities and scientific institutions around the world to study how to protect oceans and marine life, and the millions of people who depend on them for food and fortune. It’s one small part of NOAA’s overall work measuring greenhouse gas emissions, modeling the global climate, monitoring and protecting fish and marine mammals, restoring and protecting coastlines from erosion and floods, providing marine navigation data, and even predicting space weather.
Sarah Cooley had worked alongside the Ocean Acidification Program for its entire existence—from her early career as a researcher to her more recent role as a senior director at the nonprofit Ocean Conservancy. “I was one of the external partners pointing to the work that this program was doing and working with Congress to make sure there was adequate funding for the science that needed to be done,” she says.
The firings were spurred by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—a Trump administration effort that has no authorization from Congress but has so far fired tens of thousands of federal workers. DOGE has also proposed canceling leases on NOAA offices and research facilities and on numerous other federal properties across the country. According to multiple reports, NOAA is bracing for another round of firings which could, when combined with previous job losses, mean NOAA’s staff shrinks by a fifth.
Scientists abroad who work with NOAA are sounding the alarm about the cuts and firings. Jean-Pierre Gattuso, an oceanographer with the French National Centre for Scientific Research and Sorbonne University who frequently collaborates with NOAA researchers, says the agency’s roles in global ocean and atmospheric research are “absolutely essential.”
“I find the situation at NOAA … very, very concerning,” he says. “I think it will hurt the U.S. a lot. It’s very sad, this situation.”
Craig McLean, who was NOAA’s assistant administrator for research from 2015 to 2022, worries the Trump administration’s policies will turn the United States’ ocean science efforts into a “backwater enterprise.” (MORE - missing details)
