NOAA latest agency under threat of P’25 hatchet

Since its inception on October 3, 1970, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, has been the foremost source in the US for everything from weather forecasting to the health of marine life. NOAA has recently come under the gun by the Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, under the leadership of Elon Musk, the latest bureaucratic hatchet man, sent from one newly created bureaucracy to recommend major cuts to other bureaucracies. The logic behind this plan, inspired by Project 2025’s (P’25s) desire to slash government agencies that offer support to groups whose values differ from those of their far-right wing political agenda, is presumably to reduce government spending while increasing its efficiency. So far DOGE has met with contempt from the agencies, concern and fear from the public, and general disapproval from voters, including veterans and retirees, some of the most traditionally conservative voters.

Team Trump/Musk has managed to bring lawsuits down on their administration from multiple groups, including environmental organizations and their members, civil and human rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and farmers, who are now facing funding freezes that will put a halt to the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) grants, which would have allowed them to upgrade their energy systems to more efficient, alternative, clean energy sources, including the energy needed to pump water for irrigation. Now DOGE has set its sights on NOAA. After demanding that NOAA encourage retirement of seasoned employees, DOGE further required NOAA to freeze hiring of new employees and more recently is forcing a 10% cut of its current 10,290 employees. Cuts in Maine and New York have already resulted in the disabling of weather balloon operations in those coastal states. Cuts such as these reduce the ability to adequately forecast weather patterns. Losing another 1029 employees without guidelines on what type of job cuts should be made is a huge concern.

According to the Library of Congress, the main functions of NOAA in its current form are divided among six sub-agencies, or line offices, which include: National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS); National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS); National Ocean Service (NOS); National Weather Service (NWS); Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR); and Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO). The NOAA Administrator is also referred to as the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere under the Department of Commerce (DOC), since its reorganization during the Nixon Administration in 1970. https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R47636

Regulatory responsibilities of each of the line offices include the following:

• NESDIS programs “provide the data, information, and services needed to support environmental studies and predictions, resource assessments, data archiving and dissemination, and satellite sensor and technology development” including “management services to develop and operate civilian satellite systems for observing land, ocean, atmospheric, and solar conditions required by governments, commerce, and the general public, and to support commercial space services.
• NMFS programs “promote the conservation, management, and sustainable use of living marine resources for commercial and recreational use” and include “services and products to support the administration of NOAA’s fisheries management operations; international fisheries management obligations; constituent services activities; protected resources and habitat conservation operations; enforcement operations; and the scientific and technical aspects of NOAA’s living marine resources programs.”
• NOS programs “provide ocean and coastal zone management services and information products to support national needs arising from increasing uses and opportunities of the oceans and estuaries,” which include “services and products to support development and appropriate use of the oceans, and the management of marine and coastal resources; promote improvements in marine and coastal commerce; and improve safety of marine operations and coastal activities.”
• NWS programs “consist of monitoring and predicting the state of the atmosphere and hydrologic environment” including the delivery of climatic, hydrologic, and meteorological services to government, industry, and the general public, including the preparation and delivery of weather warnings and predictions, and the exchange of data products and forecasts with international organizations.”
• OAR programs “plan, organize, manage, and conduct research and development to meet the needs of NOAA,” including “laboratory and extramural research projects… relevant to NOAA environmental information and resource management programs,” to “provide sound technological and scientific, information or capabilities on which to base improvements in these services, products, or policies.”
• OMAO programs “develop plans and administer the use, operation, maintenance, and upgrade of NOAA ships, aircraft, small craft, and associated equipment and facilities in support of NOAA’s programs and other activities, and shall administer the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps.”

Source: Congressional Research Service (CRS) from Department of Commerce (DOC), Office of Privacy and Open Government, Department Organization Order 25-5, Effective May 4, 2015, https://www.commerce.gov/node/5033.

Traditionally, NOAA has been controlled by three main congressional committees. In the House of Representatives those are the Natural Resources committee, the Science, Space, and Technology committee, and the Transportation and Infrastructure committee. The Senate committee concerned with NOAA is that of Commerce, Science, and Transportation. https://rules.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/rules.house.gov/files/documents/houserules119thupdated.pdf  An agency which has been allocated a budget for its particular needs by Congress is legally obligated to use those funds in the manner for which they were intended. According to prior precedent, only Congress has the power to make changes to the approved budgets and any attempt by the executive branch to re-allocate funds once approved by Congress can be grounds for punitive claims. It is not yet clear whether a Constitutional overstep by the Trump Secretary of Commerce will be addressed in future litigation.

Severe cuts to NOAA programs as a result of staff shortages is a potential threat to Native American communities on several fronts. Since NOAA conducts environmental research and is accountable for marine affairs and coastal zone management related to oil and other pollution of navigable waters, such responsibilities may require NOAA to respond to tribal concerns in States where there is a constant threat of oil spills such as Texas, Louisiana, or Alaska. Because of NOAA’s longstanding data collection and research concerning fisheries, detailed knowledge of international fishing agreements, conservation and restoration of habitat in coastal refuges and estuaries, and oceanography, the agency has often provided tribes with the necessary information to adequately document records of salmon and other sea-run fish species in order to engage in restoration projects that support traditional tribal economies, as with Pacific Northwest and Maine riverine tribes.

Coastal tribes in Georgia, Florida, and the gulf coast, as well as California and other New England States are also at risk, not to mention other marginalized and poor communities. The risks of ocean pollution to freshwater aquifer resources in coastal communities is problematic. Storms and flooding increase this risk. Oil is not the only possible threat. Control of and data on invasive species, tracking tsunamis and forecasting disasters, monitoring industrial pollutants and dumping of wastewater from fracking and milling on land that then spreads into waterways and makes its way into oceans, plastics and forever chemicals (PFASs), all which pose a danger to marine life and humans are tracked by NOAA. The agency has collected this type of data for over half a century. Cuts to staff are only part of the picture. Staff shortages equate with shortages in services, hindrances to distribution of information, and grant allocation. NOAA is committed to providing the best possible weather analysis and warning system to the public as before and is determined not to allow cuts mandated by the Trump administration to hinder its responsibility to public safety but current and former staff fear this is an attempt to eradicate, or at least render ineffective, a necessary agency.

(Contact Aliyah Keuthan at kestreldancing@gmail.com)

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