Conservative project 2025 calls for the breakup of NOAA and other major U.S. environmental resources
In a contentious move that’s drawn fierce opposition from climate experts, a conservative platform called Project 2025 is advocating for the fragmentation of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The document alleges that the NOAA, along with its six main branches, including the 154-year-old National Weather Service, are critical contributors to what it terms the “climate change alarm industry.”
Climate scientists and policy experts have expressed deep concern over this proposal. Matthew Sanders, lecturer at Stanford Law School and acting deputy director of the Environmental Law Clinic, argued that NOAA’s existence is vital for tracking human-induced climate modifications. He further criticized the project’s motives, seeing it as an attempt to suppress information on climate change to further the climate-denial agenda.
NOAA’s dismantling could also disrupt the dissemination of life-saving information on hurricanes, heat waves, and other extreme weather events, all of which are becoming more severe due to climate change.
The contentious 922-page document was authored by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. It condemned NOAA as one of the largest agencies under the U.S. Department of Commerce, absorbing about half of the department’s $12 billion annual operational budget.
Robert Rohde, the Chief Scientist at Berkeley Earth, warned that splintering NOAA could be harmful to the progression of science, likening the act to “shooting the messenger.” He lauded NOAA for responsibly communicating the risks of climate change, emphasizing the necessity of facing the warming planet with “open eyes.”
Interestingly, Project 2025, while published by former Trump administration officials, has been publicly disowned by the former President on social media. However, Donald Trump’s administration made several attempts to roll back environmental regulations and curtail the functions of federal agencies. Notably, key positions in the Department of the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, and more were held by climate change deniers during his tenure.
Project 2025 not only affects environmental issues but also brushes on abortion, contraceptive access, social security, pornography laws, marriage equality, student loan relief, and proposes additional changes to federal departments.
The existing backlash from climate experts, however, is a powerful reminder of how critical agencies like NOAA are in the fight against climate change. As Rohde pointed out, many organizations depend on the NOAA’s weather monitoring system – one of the most thorough in the world. Severing access to the NOAA’s data could slow the pace of research, hindering efforts to tackle global warming. Its proposed dismantlement brings the very real risk of devolving a global responsibility onto local agencies unequipped to handle the magnitude of the climate challenge.
