Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

groundloop

(13,567 posts)
Wed Dec 17, 2025, 03:41 PM Dec 17

Trump administration moves to dissolve national climate research lab in Colorado

Source: AP News

The Trump administration is dismantling the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, moving to dissolve a research lab that a top White House official described as “one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country.″

White House budget director Russ Vought criticized the lab in a social media post Tuesday night and said a comprehensive review of the lab is underway. “Vital activities such as weather research will be moved to another entity or location,″ Vought said.

The research lab, which houses the largest federal research program on climate change, supports research to predict, prepare for and respond to severe weather and other natural disasters. The research lab is managed by a nonprofit consortium of more than 130 colleges and universities on behalf of the National Science Foundation.

A senior White House official cited two instances of the lab’s “woke direction” that wastes taxpayer funds on what the official called frivolous pursuits and ideologies. One funded an Indigenous and Earth Sciences center that aimed to “make the sciences more welcoming, inclusive, and justice-centered,” while another experiment traced air pollution to “demonize motor vehicles, oil and gas operations.’' The official spoke on condition of anonymity to speak frankly about the administration’s actions.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/trump-colorado-climate-research-lab-1eaf91b1e737809b80497f44d45b6c03



21 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Trump administration moves to dissolve national climate research lab in Colorado (Original Post) groundloop Dec 17 OP
Idiots BlueWaveNeverEnd Dec 17 #1
Anything that helps people in any way must be destroyed. patphil Dec 17 #2
Unless you are a billionaire n/t hibbing Dec 17 #11
"That's a group with a lot of class solidarity" jfz9580m Dec 17 #13
Essentially we're fighting a class war here, but they've convinced us it's a race war. patphil Dec 17 #15
That's how I see it jfz9580m Dec 17 #20
fat orange imbecile strikes again wolfie001 Dec 17 #3
Sealing the doom of future generations Miguelito Loveless Dec 17 #4
That's a novel way to commit international suicide -misanthroptimist Dec 17 #5
Their so anti-science, sometimes it seems as if they want to send us back to the middle ages. Fil1957 Dec 17 #6
Not a bad time to be alive - if you were a king and his court William Seger Dec 17 #10
As Mel Brooks said, "It's good to be the king". patphil Dec 17 #16
Putin loves trump's policy failures, flaws and his role as the national degenerate Torchlight Dec 17 #7
Vought is evil. Was he fetal alcohol, or abused? Who cares, just get him out of any position of power. Blues Heron Dec 17 #8
"EVIL" is... GiqueCee Dec 17 #12
The climate IS alarming now Bayard Dec 17 #9
This is an order from the oil industry. Buddyzbuddy Dec 17 #14
Remind me who it was who told the Oil industry mahina Dec 17 #18
Exactly! Buddyzbuddy Dec 18 #21
Ignorance on some people's part, and Greed from the Oil Industry... electric_blue68 Dec 17 #17
From Seth's Weather Report RobertDevereaux Dec 17 #19

patphil

(8,719 posts)
2. Anything that helps people in any way must be destroyed.
Wed Dec 17, 2025, 03:52 PM
Dec 17

Russell Vought has an agenda of tearing down anything and everything that works in the interest of Americans.

jfz9580m

(16,567 posts)
13. "That's a group with a lot of class solidarity"
Wed Dec 17, 2025, 07:08 PM
Dec 17

I saw someone (maybe Nathan Robinson) say that a long time ago and it is so true..

patphil

(8,719 posts)
15. Essentially we're fighting a class war here, but they've convinced us it's a race war.
Wed Dec 17, 2025, 07:42 PM
Dec 17

They want us to think it about anything but them.

jfz9580m

(16,567 posts)
20. That's how I see it
Wed Dec 17, 2025, 09:37 PM
Dec 17

And where it is not a class war, don’t know…

Nice if people know they have support..that’s enough. And support that at some point is reflected in the material world.

I don’t know..sometimes if you are silent, people don’t know what you are thinking, but probably with a large enough number of people (not the ghastly people..anyone who meets the old qualification of random human) they are probably on your side with anything bad.

I think the web is depressing a lot (influencers and such)..and people have to feel stuff..you can’t scold people into eschewing anything nor working hard and being healthy etc. But with support people would get there.

To the extent that I am one data point meaning anything, it’s probably good that I at least scraped by these past 14.5 years myself. And in spite of the tech oligarchy’s interference with public policy/science policy etc almost certainly.

I certainly feel way better than I did before in some ways. But it has to be reflected in the material world to count. So I have to go and finish work. But I wish sometimes I could cheer up people facing the PTSD of this last year...this loathesome attack on all public and non profit institutions (billionaire funded aren’t the same even if the people doing the work may be cool) is outrageous and makes sense.

It does suck. And it can feel like there are a lot of loud proclamations of this and that, but no real support. But there’s support probably. Not online but somewhere. It’s not a lot, but it’s something ;-/.

I felt like that 14 years ago. Put on the spot by these accelerating systems and today I feel ready finally to at least try to take on more serious work. Ditching the suck fest.

I don’t think it’s that with lots of people, people are stupid or helpless..like those creeps want it portrayed. It’s hard to care sometimes when it feels like such a put up job to keep eyes away from material realities.

It’s why I follow a type of left that helped me.

-misanthroptimist

(1,564 posts)
5. That's a novel way to commit international suicide
Wed Dec 17, 2025, 04:23 PM
Dec 17

In the past, previous civilizations destroyed by CC had no idea it was coming.

We know but have a misadministration that decides to bury its head in the sand and pretend nothing is wrong. Millions, maybe even billions, of people will pay the price.

William Seger

(12,200 posts)
10. Not a bad time to be alive - if you were a king and his court
Wed Dec 17, 2025, 05:02 PM
Dec 17

#rump wants to Make America Great Again like it never was before.

Torchlight

(6,303 posts)
7. Putin loves trump's policy failures, flaws and his role as the national degenerate
Wed Dec 17, 2025, 04:33 PM
Dec 17

Everything trump does weakens America. We will spend the next three generations apologizing for the next three years.

Blues Heron

(8,327 posts)
8. Vought is evil. Was he fetal alcohol, or abused? Who cares, just get him out of any position of power.
Wed Dec 17, 2025, 04:45 PM
Dec 17

Bayard

(28,528 posts)
9. The climate IS alarming now
Wed Dec 17, 2025, 04:49 PM
Dec 17

We may have already passed the point of no return, but these morons wouldn't recognize a dead fish if you slapped them up side the head with it. Can't breathe? Too bad.

Buddyzbuddy

(2,100 posts)
14. This is an order from the oil industry.
Wed Dec 17, 2025, 07:27 PM
Dec 17

Don't believe it when you're told it's punishment for not releasing the Felon, Tina Peters. That bullsh*t serves the oil industry and the fat orange Felon.

mahina

(20,418 posts)
18. Remind me who it was who told the Oil industry
Wed Dec 17, 2025, 08:36 PM
Dec 17

Give me $1 billion and I’ll do whatever you want?

electric_blue68

(25,796 posts)
17. Ignorance on some people's part, and Greed from the Oil Industry...
Wed Dec 17, 2025, 08:25 PM
Dec 17

Don't these top tier Oil honchos have any kids, grand kids? Don't they care how they will live way past them?

Or will they send them to the safest places, or very fancy underground bunkers?

RobertDevereaux

(2,022 posts)
19. From Seth's Weather Report
Wed Dec 17, 2025, 09:02 PM
Dec 17

12/17/25 8:45am: Had a rough night last night after hearing the news that the Trump administration plans on dismantling my beloved work NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research) effective immediately (where I have spent my entire 25+ year career).
Feeling gutted and having a hard time coming up with the words this morning. I’ve tried not to be political in this group, but this is beyond the pale and if the plan goes through as the administration intends, this would have devastating impacts for my work, for myself personnelly and for this weather group. I’m really angry this morning.
The move to dismantle NCAR because we are supposedly a “woke” organization that does climate change research is beyond short-sighted, dangerous, ignorant and will have huge implications on U.S. public safety and modeling efforts. And this will put us behind all the other developed countries doing cutting edge atmospheric research and forecast development.
Climate change research is only a small part of what NCAR does. Here is list of of some of the critical weather forecast systems that are developed at NCAR
Forecast systems to predict turbulence when you are flying so that commercial airplanes don’t crash (both clear-sky turbulence and thunderstorm related hazards)
Forecast systems to predict in-flight icing (and ground related icing) so commercial airplanes don’t crash due to ice
Forecast systems to predict winter road weather hazards for both airports and DOT’s to help maintenance managers keep the roads (and runways) clear of snow and ice so folks can travel safely and not crash
Advanced forecast systems to predict renewable energy variables such as solar (GHI) and hub-height-wind-speed (for wind power) and these are critical systems that almost all energy providers rely on these days
Over the years NCAR has helped develop all of the modern, high-resolution forecast models, such as the WRF model, which is used within other forecast systems at NOAA to forecast snowfall, rain, hurricanes, flooding event, etc.. The WRF is the dynamical core for models like the HRRR, the RRFS, NAM, etc.
For me personally I lead the Denver Int. Airport Maintenance Decision Support System (MDSS) that gives accurate tactical and strategic forecast information to the airport so they can keep the runway clear of snow and ice. I also run projects that provide precision forecast data to private companies (in fact companies like Weather Channel and many others private forecast companies use these smart forecast system developed at NCAR).
And this is just the tip of the ice-berg.
Here was a statement put out by the president of UCAR (the governing body of NCAR) last night Tony: “NSF NCAR’s research is crucial for building American prosperity by protecting lives and property, supporting the economy, and strengthening national security. Any plans to dismantle NSF NCAR would set back our nation’s ability to predict, prepare for, and respond to severe weather and other natural disasters. For an overview of how our research benefits the nation, visit our Research Works website.”
Now, I’m really hoping that they can’t just “dismantle” NCAR legally. NCAR is a federally funded research and development center, originally started by NSF, but now only gets about 30% of it funding from NSF. It is not run by the government what-so-ever. Its also not a White House managed agency like NOAA so the administration can’t simply order and shut it down….But sounds like they are go to try....
We need a huge push back against this right now. This is the time to call your Congress men and women and Senators and tell them this is completely unacceptable. It sounds like some lawsuits may be filed to stop this, but it is unclear.
Lastly, if I do ultimately lose my job at NCAR, I will also be dismantling the group as well…as I’ll have to look for new ways to make money / make a living.
This shit is insanity right now! Can’t believe it. Sorry. Maybe I'll have a weather update later.

Latest Discussions»Latest Breaking News»Trump administration move...