By Dawn Attride for Sentient.
Broadcast version by Roz Brown for New Mexico News Connection reporting for the Sentient-Public News Service Collaboration

Hundreds of climate workers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have now been fired for the second time after the Supreme Court reversed a lower court decision on an initial dismissal. This move brings the total toll of fired federal employees up to about 16,000 - jeopardizing vital work at NOAA, including marine pollution research, weather forecasting for hurricanes and tornadoes and decisions for local fisheries that help guard against overfishing. Gathering in Washington D.C. on April 2, Democrats from the House Natural Resources Committee and a range of experts convened to express outrage, and fear at the attacks on the agency.

"The problem is we fired the people that know how to operate the technology," Val Hoyle, Democrat Member of Congress from Oregon's 4th District, told reporters at the forum. "They fired the people that know how to operate our tsunami warning system."

Cuts to an Underfunded Agency Threatens Public Safety

The agency is no stranger to budget challenges. In 2021, a chief scientist for NOAA described the institution as a "$12 billion agency trapped in a $5.5 billion budget," highlighting the longstanding discrepancy between the agency's value and its funding.

More cuts to funding and staff will only make this disconnect worse, according to the Representative from Rhode Island's 2nd District. "The assertion that mass layoffs will somehow improve efficiency is not only misleading, it is outright dangerous," said Rep. Seth Magaziner at the livestreamed public forum held on Capitol Hill.

"Real people's jobs and lives are on the line. Without NOAA's real time data, emergency responders are left without the critical information they need to respond to impending disasters like wildfires, hurricanes, floods and severe storms, putting millions at risk," added Magaziner, who is a Democrat and member of the House Natural Resources Committee.

The current round of cuts to NOAA comes a couple of months ahead of peak hurricane season. Just last year, hurricanes Helene and Milton ripped through Florida and North Carolina, and local officials were able to rely on forecasting and storm tracking by NOAA during the season.

Natural disaster experts and government officials have raised concerns about what their natural disaster response will look like without extreme weather event predictions. "We have a buoy off the coast of Central Oregon that is part of our tsunami warning system. It's offline. We can't get any information," said Representative Hoyle.

The National Weather Service has also halted weather balloon launches at many of its offices due to lack of staff. The balloons are key to measure temperature and wind and also signal early warnings of tornadoes.

Guardrails on Overfishing Gutted Thanks to DOGE Cuts

Another key role of the agency is to help manage commercial fisheries. The agency's role in day-to-day operations enables fisheries to function, but also plays a role in protecting fish populations against overfishing, a practice responsible for an estimated 5.6 million metric tons of carbon emissions released into the atmosphere each year.

Though forum speakers described the industry as having a "love-hate relationship" with NOAA, both industry and policy representatives at the forum said that mass layoffs and regulatory freezes would have a crippling effect.

As a result of the layoffs, the Mid-Atlantic bluefin tuna fishery was not closed on schedule for instance, and was subsequently overfished by 125 percent, said Elizabeth Lewis, senior associate attorney at the public interest law firm, Eubanks & Associates, at the forum.

In February, President Trump retaliated against Maine's Governor Janet Mills for her opposition to his executive order to ban transgender athletes competing in women's sports. As a result, he temporarily froze the state's sea grant funding.

"Although funding was reinstated later, it left fishing communities across the country thinking about what would happen if the state sea grant offices that they depend on also became political footballs," said Sarah Schumann, a fisherman and advocate for local fisheries in Rhode Island. Schumann pointed out the fishing industry heavily relies on NOAA's data collection and forecasting to navigate U.S. waters amid a warming climate.

Salmon in Washington State are also under threat as cuts to NOAA employees continue, according to reporting from the New York Times. An employee who ensured salmon hatcheries followed the Endangered Species Act was fired - jeopardizing current and future fish populations.

Privatization of Weather Predictions Risks Accuracy

"There is no weather forecast that's produced in this country that isn't dependent on NOAA, none," said Mary Glackin at the forum. Glackin is a former deputy undersecretary at the agency and former employee at the National Weather Service. NOAA is currently operating billions of dollars worth of satellites and high performance weather infrastructure. Glackin worries that this technology and surveillance may be auctioned off to the highest bidder, which would create a monopoly among billionaires to utilize the service for private interests.

This isn't the first time these programs have been threatened with privatization, as many prior administrations looked to do the same. Yet, they all came to the same conclusion, said Democratic Rep. Melanie Stansbury from New Mexico. The data was so crucial to the public interest that they could not turn it over to the private sector.

If private sector ownership fails, Stansbury said, there would be catastrophic impacts. "It's very clear that at the end of the day when [Musk] leaves in a few weeks or a couple of months, all he's going to leave in his wake is a gigantic mess of court cases," Stanbury said, before pointing to "the loss of scientists and dismantled government programs that will take years to restore [and] that has undermined our standing internationally and undermined our ability to even predict the weather."

NOAA Plays Key Role in National Security

Decimating NOAA's workforce is the latest move in weakening national security preparedness, said Rear Admiral John White, the former president of the Consortium for Ocean Leadership and former superintendent of the Naval Observatory. Just last month, Atlantic journalist Jeffrey Goldberg was mistakenly added by elected officials to a group chat detailing foreign war plans.

White stressed the importance of NOAA data to military operations and bases at sea, highlighting that our knowledge of oceanography was key to victory in the Cold War.

"It worries me a lot because I know that there are men and women in uniform out there who rely on this information...to maintain our national security and home and away game advantage for years to come. I just don't know how that's going to turn out based on the current trend and I lose sleep every night," White said.

The Future of NOAA?

Democrats on the Natural Resources Committee have sent letters to NOAA officials to ask for more information, a briefing and proposed amendments to legislation so "that [their] committee's oversight plan would include an understanding of the impact of the gutting of NOAA."

So far, Republicans in Congress and Trump administration officials have refused all of their requests. The effects of agency cuts may be felt for years to come. "We are at a serious risk of alienating the next generation of scientists, policymakers and leaders who would help the United States weather future storms," said public interest attorney Lewis.


Dawn Attride wrote this article for Sentient.


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Indiana residents now have a new way to track pollution from coal plants across the state.

The Sierra Club's new online national dashboard shows how rollbacks of federal pollution rules could increase harmful emissions from Indiana's dozen coal plants.

Robyn Skuya-Boss, director of the Hoosier Chapter of the Sierra Club, said the data highlights risks for both rural and urban communities.

"Whether you're living in a larger city or in a small community, you could be being impacted," Skuya-Boss pointed out. "Some of the worst air quality in the nation is located in southern Indiana because there's such a high concentration of super-polluting coal plants."

The dashboard allows users to zoom in on specific plants and track pollutants like mercury, sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxide. Utilities and state officials said they follow current environmental laws and balancing energy needs and emissions limits can be complex.

Skuya-Boss stressed Indiana families deserve to know when air pollution may threaten their health.

"I think when people are tuned into those bad air quality days, what you start to see is that you can kind of get a sense of how impacted your community is by air pollution issues," Skuya-Boss observed.

Environmental groups said the dashboard also gives Hoosiers a tool to demand stronger action from state regulators and lawmakers.

Air pollution in Washington is getting worse, according to a new report citing transportation emissions as the primary culprit.

Eight of the 12 Washington counties surveyed received an "F" grade for particle pollution, including King and Pierce counties. Yakima and Seattle ranked the eighth- and ninth-worst cities in the country.

Transportation emissions account for nearly a quarter of total air pollution and about 40% of Washington's greenhouse gas emissions.

Laura Kate Bender, assistant vice president of nationwide healthy air for the American Lung Association, said more Americans live in polluted areas now than any time within the last 10 years.

"After decades of progress to clean up the air from policies under the Clean Air Act, we're now starting to see an uptick in pollution levels once again," Bender pointed out. "It shows that we really need to double down on protections that are limiting emissions from vehicles, not roll them back."

Congressional Republicans just voted to rescind the federal waivers that allow California to set emissions standards for vehicles that are stricter than national ones, arguing the rules hurt consumers and the trucking industry.

The report marked the seventh straight year of an increasing health threat from particle pollution nationwide. Particulate matter is a mixture of tiny solids or liquid droplets suspended in air. Small particles can lodge deep in the lungs and cause health problems, including cancer and asthma attacks. Bender added smoke from wildfires, driven by climate change, adds to the problem.

"Those conditions are being made worse by changing temperatures," Bender noted. "Climate change means more extreme heat, and more extreme heat can lead to more ozone pollution, and those are both results that show up in this year's report."

Congressional Republicans are considering revoking the federal tax credit of up to $7,500 for new electric vehicle purchases. The House infrastructure committee is also debating new registration fees which would charge people who drive electric cars more than those who drive gas-powered vehicles.


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California has some of the dirtiest air in the nation, according to the American Lung Association's new State of the Air report.

Researchers looked at ozone pollution and both short and long-term particle pollution. Thirteen counties got an "F" grade in all three categories. Pollution in the counties mainly came from vehicle emissions and smoke from wildfires.

Laura Kate Bender, assistant vice president of nationwide healthy air for the American Lung Association, said climate change is contributing to the counties' poor air quality.

"Those conditions are being made worse by changing temperatures," Bender pointed out. "Climate change means more extreme heat, and more extreme heat can lead to more ozone pollution, and those are both results that show up in this year's report."

Five of the seven counties with the most yearly air pollution in the nation are in California. The three most polluting counties are in the Central Valley, with Los Angeles County and the Bay Area not far behind. Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives just voted to rescind the federal waivers allowing California to set strict emissions standards for vehicles, arguing the rules hurt consumers and the trucking industry.

The report also found 46% of Americans live in places getting failing grades for unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution. Bender stressed more Americans live in polluted areas now than any time within the last 10 years.

"After decades of progress to clean up the air from policies under the Clean Air Act, we're now starting to see an uptick in pollution levels once again, and it shows that we really need to double down on protections that are limiting emissions from vehicles, not roll them back."

The House infrastructure committee is also considering highway funding fees to charge people who drive an electric car more than those who own a gas-powered vehicle.


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