President Donald Trumps administration is on a crusade against efforts to grapple with climate change. From the start of Trumps second term, officials have halted clean energy projects or attempted to claw back funding for them, and, at the same time, they have fast-tracked permitting for fossil fuels.
The administration has also been tearing down federal programs that protect Americans against the kind of extreme weather that climate change brings, making it harder for communities to prepare for and recover from natural disasters. These decisions will weaken the economy and more important could cost lives.
Start with the administrations gutting of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The agency, which is part of the Commerce Department, monitors weather, conducts climate research and maintains intricate forecast models that are essential to much of the economy. Farmers use the models to decide which crops to plant and when, and the shipping and aviation industries use them to steer around hazardous weather.
Nevertheless, many people in the administration see the agency as a source of climate alarmism, as Russell Vought, who is now director of the Office of Management and Budget, put it in a proposal for Project 2025. Commerce officials slashed hundreds of employees from NOAAs workforce. The administrations budget framework released this month also proposed cutting $1.3 billion from the agency by targeting climate-dominated research, data, and grant programs, which are not aligned with Administration policy-ending Green New Deal initiatives.
A NOAA spokesperson said it is actively enhancing disaster readiness and lifesaving capabilities through transformation and strategic investments in advanced technology. But the layoffs alone will make it difficult to maintain the agencys vast network of weather radars. Thirty of the National Weather Services 122 local forecast offices now operate without a chief meteorologist, CNN has reported. As extreme weather events become more common and more expensive this could prove disastrous.
Then theres the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which the president and many of his advisers repeatedly have threatened to eliminate. In 2023, the Government Accountability Office determined that understaffing at FEMA was impeding disaster responses. Yet Trumps Department of Homeland Security has reduced its workforce by 20 percent through layoffs and voluntary buyouts. Trump recently also fired the acting head of the agency a day after the administrator told Congress that he didnt believe FEMA should be eliminated.
Meanwhile, the administration has repeatedly denied federal aid to disaster-stricken regions, arguing that states should lead response efforts. This earned a rebuke from Republicans in Arkansas, who pushed the administration to reconsider its denial of funding after deadly storms in March. Given the cumulative impact and sheer magnitude of destruction from these severe weather events, federal assistance is vital to ensure that state and local communities have the capabilities needed to rebuild, a group of Republican lawmakers from the state wrote in a letter to Trump.
The administrations aversion to FEMA stems partly from misinformation, amplified by the president. He has claimed that the agency intentionally withheld aid to Republican residents in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene last year. This falsehood has undermined the agencys difficult work and led to threats against relief workers.
Last month, the administration also announced it would end FEMAs Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, which was created during the first Trump administration and expanded under President Joe Biden to help communities harden themselves against disasters, such as by raising roads prone to flooding. The White House has also been scaling back FEMAs Hazard Mitigation Assistance program, which awards post-disaster grants to help communities rebuild in ways that make them more resilient.
Also in April, the administration dismissed all the scientists working on the next National Climate Assessment. The congressionally mandated report, which is due to be released by 2028, is meant to synthesize the latest climate research to help state and local governments respond to climate change. Contributors to the report said it would place a new emphasis on adaptation strategies.
Each of these decisions has been reckless. Taken together, they reveal a basic disregard for the scientific programs and government infrastructure that have kept Americans safe for decades. The president almost seems to be daring Mother Nature to strike while the countrys defenses are down.
Lawmakers especially Republicans, who are no doubt nervous about their partys political future need to speak up for their constituents and press for climate mitigation programs to continue. So should business leaders who rely on government data to protect their investments. Americans need a government that cares about their safety.
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