At the end of last month, Rebecca Howard was fired from her dream job. With a notification within two hours, the research biologist was asked to investigate Alaska shellfish and Pollock populations and to quit the position by the National Marine and Atmospheric Administration, or the NOAA.
Howard is one of more than 1,000 employees affected by the recent layoffs at NOAA. As the Department of Commerce’s science department, the agency plays a key role in climate research, ecosystem recovery, and surveillance of commercial fisheries. National Weather Service, which enhances the weather app on your phone and provides data to inform local meteorologists, is an agency within NOAA.
As part of the Trump administration’s efforts to cut federal budgets across various sectors, last month, the agency fired hundreds of probation employees on staff who were hired or promoted last year, regardless of their duties. The agency is now They reportedly prepare to add 1,029 employeesrepresents a cumulative 20% reduction in the workforce. Last week, federal judges in California and Maryland entered the Trump administration. Rehier A resigned probation staff.
Howard was one of the probation employees affected by the first round of layoffs, and said the fisheries management projects she was involved in were being carried out by a understaffed team. As researchers like to leave, she said it’s not clear how the work will continue.
“We need these types of data to see how many fish and crabs can catch each year, and how many fish and crabs these types of fish and crabs can get a cab,” Howard said at a press conference hosted by Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat representing Washington. Howard pointed out when Bering Sea shellfish surveys were overlooked in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Alaska’s $200 million snow crab fishery. It fell following year. “Firing people like me will make it very difficult for NOAA Fisheries to fulfill its mission,” she said.
The government’s Efficiency Office, a budget cuts entitled Elon Musk, is proposing a termination lease of 19 properties NOAA uses for operations. In addition, the General Services Bureau 13 additional buildings have been designated It is owned by the agency as “not the core of government operations.” The building will include law enforcement for the fishing industry, a control room that oversees a fleet of 15 weather satellites, and an information center that houses climate data archives for over a century.
Climate scientists are also concerned about the possibility of the closure of the office supporting the Mauna Roa Observatory, which provides the longest-running record of atmospheric carbon dioxide measurements. The Institute provides data behind the Keyring curve, a graph showing how much of the planet-warming gas has accumulated in the atmosphere since its establishment in 1958.
“Political leadership in this administration doesn’t know and care about the agency’s mission,” said Richard Spinrad, former NOAA chief who led the agency during the Biden administration at a press conference. “These actions are not strategic moves from governments looking for that pocket.
NOAA’s $9.8 billion budget is just represented 0.097% Of all federal spending, its employees account for less than 0.5% of the total federal workforce. However, due to the wider duties of the agency and the indiscriminate nature of the cut, Spinlad says the damage is felt through “every business sector, every geographical region of the country, every component of American society.” He said America’s lives will also be threatened, as extreme weather services such as flood forecasting, hurricane outlook, tsunami warnings and wildfire monitoring compromise.
Staff cuts have already hindered operations. The agent has it Several weather balloons have been suspendedan important tool in recording atmospheric conditions and real-time storm tracking. NOAA launches these balloons daily to collect important data, but without that, weather forecasts could be accurate over time. The agency also cancelled long-standing cancellations Monthly Briefing Reporters and seasonal forecasts and global climate conditions.
“The cuts are already very destructive and the impact is on the rise,” University of California climate scientist Daniel Swain told Grist. “some [the problems] Appears during extreme events, some of which will likely take a little time to show themselves. ”
Swain pointed to the recent Fatal outbreaks of tornadoes and wildfires As an example, “National Weather Service’s 24/7 lifesaving obligations are fully on display.” Oklahoma wildfire sprates rammed through nearly 300 homes, leaving at least 40 people dead after tornadoes and sandstorms ripped apart the Midwest and south. During these types of extreme weather events, NOAA meteorologists will provide real-time updates to first responders, issue public alerts, and help local governments track storms during development. However, the key hubs for this work, such as the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, are one of the NOAA facilities that Doge is. I’m considering closure. Local news outlets reported that there may not be adequate staff left Responds to tornado events Because of layoffs.
“This is a kind of moment when we may start to see the concrete, real-world, and truly life-threatening effects of these staffing gaps,” Swain said. “These people were fired without notice or justification despite their role in saving lives.”
On Monday, some fired NOAA probation employees, including Howard, a fisheries research biologist, said: Re-employment As required by federal court order. Howard said that the reinstatement email she received had placed her on administrative leave and “no indication” when she was allowed to return to work.
“I worked towards a career in marine science since I was a child,” she said. “It’s not something I look forward to being brought back to that stressful situation, but this is something I wanted to do in my career.”
