Trump Tries to Eliminate All Climate Change Related Research

In an effort to eliminate all climate-related research work at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Trump administration’s proposed NOAA budget presented on June 30 will defund the Mauna Loa laboratory in Hawaii, CNN reported. Since the 1950s, the lab’s scientists have gathered conclusive evidence of human-caused climate change that’s driving sea level rise and supercharging weather.

The budget proposal would also defund many other climate labs, including instrument sites comprising the U.S. government’s greenhouse gas monitoring network, which stretches from northern Alaska to the South Pole, CNN reported. The Trump administration envisions eliminating all climate-related research work at NOAA, as had been proposed in Project 2025, the conservative blueprint for overhauling the government, the news agency said.

If the Mauna Loa laboratory is defunded the research center could seek alternate sources of funding to host the instruments atop the Mauna Loa Volcano peak or move instruments elsewhere in Hawaii.

As CMM also reported last week, the U.S. Department of Defense plans to stop sharing satellite data that is crucial for NOAA’s hurricane forecasting on July 31. Meanwhile, last week, countries worldwide agreed to increase the United Nations climate body’s budget by 10% for the next two years. It’s unclear whether the U.S. will participate in the funding.