Gutting NOAA
-
PAL
- Posts: 1947
- Joined: Tue May 25, 2021 1:25 pm
- Contact:
-
Rideback
- Posts: 3687
- Joined: Fri Nov 12, 2021 5:53 am
- Contact:
Re: Gutting NOAA
We're flying blind
"Here’s a nightmare scenario: You’re in the emergency room of a busy hospital and victims of accidents, disasters and diseases are streaming in. Nurses and doctors huddle around computer monitors displaying patients’ heart rates and oxygen levels. Suddenly, the screens go dark. Someone is going through the building pulling all the plugs.
This is happening now to the monitors tracking the Earth’s vital signs. As Trump administration operatives from what has been called the Department of Government Efficiency race through federal agencies firing staffers, freezing funds and canceling leases on facilities — purportedly to eliminate waste — they are effectively powering off systems that track mounting environmental dangers, from weather balloons to air pollution monitors to radar stations to atmospheric observatories. Their chain-saw-waving approach to cost-cutting will only leave us blind as we head deeper into the 21st-century maelstrom of supercharged hurricanes, extreme heat waves and toxic wildfire smoke.
Right now, satellites operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are capturing real-time images of the weather churning across the planet’s surface. The agency’s ocean buoys and radar systems help the Coast Guard perform rescues and fishermen navigate shifting tides and currents.
Those instruments need humans to operate them. But over the past three weeks, NOAA has lost about 20 percent of its work force. Layoffs hit the satellite operations division based in Maryland, and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii. Hurricane season is right around the corner, yet staff on NOAA’s famous “Hurricane Hunters” teams, which fly into storms to measure their strength and assess their danger, were let go.
The agency’s scientists help build the forecasting models used to predict what the weather will look like next week, and what your children’s climate might look like half a century from now. Farmers use the agency’s weather data to plan their crop planting and harvesting, and urban firefighters rely on it to anticipate high wind events and prepare for downed power lines and evacuations. But staffing reductions at NOAA’s National Weather Service offices have suspended the launch of weather balloons that collect wind, temperature and humidity readings from Alaska to Albany.
These cuts threaten your budget, too. Insurance companies rely heavily on data gathered by NOAA and the U.S. Geological Survey to assess wildfire, flood, wind and other risks. Some firms are warning that any interruption in data availability could drive insurance premiums for customers even higher. Other layoffs at the U.S.G.S. could undermine programs that monitor drought and flood conditions, hazardous spills and sewage overflows and the health of salmon fisheries off the Pacific Coast.
And then there’s air pollution. On March 4, the State Department announced that it would no longer share data gathered by air quality monitors at more than 80 U.S. embassies and consulates around the world. With that decision, another one of the government’s most effective global monitoring efforts went dark.
Since the first air quality monitoring system was installed atop the U.S. Embassy in Beijing in 2008, the initiative has yielded a huge return on a modest investment by simply telling people what they’re breathing. During a particularly severe air pollution episode in November 2010, the Beijing monitor tweeted an automated message that air quality in the city had reached “crazy bad” levels. The programmers had written that message in jest, assuming that it would never be triggered because pollution levels would never get that bad. The tweet prompted news stories around the world, and the intense scrutiny helped compel China’s leaders to act. Fifteen years later, China’s air is much cleaner.
From Lagos to Karachi, U.S. Embassy monitors were among the only reliable sources of information about what residents were inhaling every day. One 2022 study found that the air quality readings triggered local policies that substantially reduced particulate matter concentrations, leading to reductions in premature deaths and saving an average of $127 million per city each year. The State Department cited “budget constraints” as the reason for shuttering the program. But the researchers found that the program saved the State Department money — it more than covered its costs by reducing compensation for embassy workers’ pollution exposure.
On top of all that, there’s a federal-building fire sale underway*. DOGE has begun the process of canceling leases on hundreds of federal properties housing operations for the U.S.G.S., the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Environmental Protection Agency and dozens of other agencies.
Another property lease DOGE has slated for cancellation is for a NOAA office in Hilo, Hawaii, that operates the Mauna Loa Observatory. This research station records one of the most consequential vital signs of all: rising levels of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Researchers say it will be difficult to run the observatory without that office’s technical support. Canceling the lease would save $150,692 a year, DOGE claims. That means the administration’s cost-cutters are essentially gambling with people’s futures and lives, unplugging lifesaving equipment to save a bit on electricity.
Federal judges recently deemed some of the Trump administration’s mass layoffs unlawful, and ordered that some fired probationary workers be temporarily reinstated across nearly 20 agencies. But the White House is telling agency heads to prepare for another large wave of staffing cuts — touted as the largest yet.
Some Republican leaders are making last-minute appeals for programs and facilities to be spared. “I am thrilled to announce that common sense has prevailed,” Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma, the Republican head of the House Appropriations Committee, wrote on X before intervening a few days later to save the radar facility that NOAA operates in his district, which is squarely in Tornado Alley. Over the weekend, as dust storms and wildfires tore through Oklahoma and dozens of deadly tornadoes struck Mississippi, Arkansas and Missouri, that facility issued lifesaving warnings. The storms have killed at least 36 people, but more would surely have perished without the advance alerts provided by the agency’s satellites and staff — a reminder of just how essential these weather centers are.
But ad hoc protection of single weather centers is not an efficient way to run a government. In the 21st century, with rising temperatures, rapidly intensifying storms and growing pandemic risks, we’re all in Tornado Alley. Common sense tells us that we need all the sentinels we have, and then some.
-by Jonathan Mingle, who is a journalist and the author of two books on climate, energy and air pollution."
"Here’s a nightmare scenario: You’re in the emergency room of a busy hospital and victims of accidents, disasters and diseases are streaming in. Nurses and doctors huddle around computer monitors displaying patients’ heart rates and oxygen levels. Suddenly, the screens go dark. Someone is going through the building pulling all the plugs.
This is happening now to the monitors tracking the Earth’s vital signs. As Trump administration operatives from what has been called the Department of Government Efficiency race through federal agencies firing staffers, freezing funds and canceling leases on facilities — purportedly to eliminate waste — they are effectively powering off systems that track mounting environmental dangers, from weather balloons to air pollution monitors to radar stations to atmospheric observatories. Their chain-saw-waving approach to cost-cutting will only leave us blind as we head deeper into the 21st-century maelstrom of supercharged hurricanes, extreme heat waves and toxic wildfire smoke.
Right now, satellites operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are capturing real-time images of the weather churning across the planet’s surface. The agency’s ocean buoys and radar systems help the Coast Guard perform rescues and fishermen navigate shifting tides and currents.
Those instruments need humans to operate them. But over the past three weeks, NOAA has lost about 20 percent of its work force. Layoffs hit the satellite operations division based in Maryland, and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii. Hurricane season is right around the corner, yet staff on NOAA’s famous “Hurricane Hunters” teams, which fly into storms to measure their strength and assess their danger, were let go.
The agency’s scientists help build the forecasting models used to predict what the weather will look like next week, and what your children’s climate might look like half a century from now. Farmers use the agency’s weather data to plan their crop planting and harvesting, and urban firefighters rely on it to anticipate high wind events and prepare for downed power lines and evacuations. But staffing reductions at NOAA’s National Weather Service offices have suspended the launch of weather balloons that collect wind, temperature and humidity readings from Alaska to Albany.
These cuts threaten your budget, too. Insurance companies rely heavily on data gathered by NOAA and the U.S. Geological Survey to assess wildfire, flood, wind and other risks. Some firms are warning that any interruption in data availability could drive insurance premiums for customers even higher. Other layoffs at the U.S.G.S. could undermine programs that monitor drought and flood conditions, hazardous spills and sewage overflows and the health of salmon fisheries off the Pacific Coast.
And then there’s air pollution. On March 4, the State Department announced that it would no longer share data gathered by air quality monitors at more than 80 U.S. embassies and consulates around the world. With that decision, another one of the government’s most effective global monitoring efforts went dark.
Since the first air quality monitoring system was installed atop the U.S. Embassy in Beijing in 2008, the initiative has yielded a huge return on a modest investment by simply telling people what they’re breathing. During a particularly severe air pollution episode in November 2010, the Beijing monitor tweeted an automated message that air quality in the city had reached “crazy bad” levels. The programmers had written that message in jest, assuming that it would never be triggered because pollution levels would never get that bad. The tweet prompted news stories around the world, and the intense scrutiny helped compel China’s leaders to act. Fifteen years later, China’s air is much cleaner.
From Lagos to Karachi, U.S. Embassy monitors were among the only reliable sources of information about what residents were inhaling every day. One 2022 study found that the air quality readings triggered local policies that substantially reduced particulate matter concentrations, leading to reductions in premature deaths and saving an average of $127 million per city each year. The State Department cited “budget constraints” as the reason for shuttering the program. But the researchers found that the program saved the State Department money — it more than covered its costs by reducing compensation for embassy workers’ pollution exposure.
On top of all that, there’s a federal-building fire sale underway*. DOGE has begun the process of canceling leases on hundreds of federal properties housing operations for the U.S.G.S., the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Environmental Protection Agency and dozens of other agencies.
Another property lease DOGE has slated for cancellation is for a NOAA office in Hilo, Hawaii, that operates the Mauna Loa Observatory. This research station records one of the most consequential vital signs of all: rising levels of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Researchers say it will be difficult to run the observatory without that office’s technical support. Canceling the lease would save $150,692 a year, DOGE claims. That means the administration’s cost-cutters are essentially gambling with people’s futures and lives, unplugging lifesaving equipment to save a bit on electricity.
Federal judges recently deemed some of the Trump administration’s mass layoffs unlawful, and ordered that some fired probationary workers be temporarily reinstated across nearly 20 agencies. But the White House is telling agency heads to prepare for another large wave of staffing cuts — touted as the largest yet.
Some Republican leaders are making last-minute appeals for programs and facilities to be spared. “I am thrilled to announce that common sense has prevailed,” Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma, the Republican head of the House Appropriations Committee, wrote on X before intervening a few days later to save the radar facility that NOAA operates in his district, which is squarely in Tornado Alley. Over the weekend, as dust storms and wildfires tore through Oklahoma and dozens of deadly tornadoes struck Mississippi, Arkansas and Missouri, that facility issued lifesaving warnings. The storms have killed at least 36 people, but more would surely have perished without the advance alerts provided by the agency’s satellites and staff — a reminder of just how essential these weather centers are.
But ad hoc protection of single weather centers is not an efficient way to run a government. In the 21st century, with rising temperatures, rapidly intensifying storms and growing pandemic risks, we’re all in Tornado Alley. Common sense tells us that we need all the sentinels we have, and then some.
-by Jonathan Mingle, who is a journalist and the author of two books on climate, energy and air pollution."
-
Rideback
- Posts: 3687
- Joined: Fri Nov 12, 2021 5:53 am
- Contact:
Gutting NOAA
The giant storm that has been active over the weekend underscores how much we rely on NOAA
https://joycevance.substack.com/p/who-d ... irect=true
On March 12, there was reporting that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was preparing to lay off more than 1,000 workers as part of the Trump administration's "reductions in force" directive to federal agencies. Cuts like that call into question whether NOAA will continue to provide the early warnings and predictive modeling that help people prepare for weather emergencies in advance. People who live in hurricane and tornado country keep their “NOAA weather radios” handy, and they are especially important for events that occur, as they frequently do, when most of us are asleep.
In theory, it sounds like one more bad thing to worry about. In practice, it’s much worse. We’ve just had a demonstration of precisely how effective NOAA is and what we stand to lose without it.
Beginning on Friday, violent, long-track tornadoes with damaging winds of up to 80 mph and large hail materialized across the Midwest and South. This was the news Friday night. NOAA’s early warning system, transmitted on social media, radio, television, and by word of mouth, kept it from being much worse.
Saturday was even worse. Here in Birmingham, the alerts started midday.
At 12:27 pm, I got the first alert through the UA campus system, telling me that in light of what was expected, I should seek shelter now instead of waiting for an actual tornado warning. The system sends alerts after the National Weather Service makes the call about what to expect. The National Weather Service (NWS) is a component of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
We’ve grown accustomed to getting this level of detail. NOAA’s information gets pushed out ahead of these events, causing people to plan in advance. Hard helmets were in short supply here yesterday as people prepared for the storms.
We were relatively lucky in Birmingham. But other places were far less fortunate. By Saturday morning, ABC News reported 36 people were dead in the wake of the storms. This was what the devastation looked like in Tylertown, Mississippi. As I’m writing this, the storm is heading east into Georgia.
How much worse would it have been without the accurate forecasting that let our local news people and local emergency systems warn folks in the storms’ paths sufficiently in advance to get to their safe places? As much as I don’t like to think about it, if Trump and DOGE stay on their current path, we are going to be forced to. Mother Nature doesn’t care who you voted for. If there’s a tornado headed your direction, you need access to early warning systems. Gutting NOAA means you won’t have that.
An example of the tornado warnings issued by National Weather Services offices in Alabama throughout the day Saturday, permitting people to find shelter and take cover in advance.
At 8:52 p.m., local television in central Alabama pushed out a message from the National Weather Service: Talladega, take cover now. It was a tornado on the ground near the famous Superspeedway. Alerts meant people were able to stay safe, which is a good thing—this photo of a bus that ended up on the roof of a nearby high school makes it clear that these early warning systems are critically important. What happens if the National Weather Service is no longer there to do that?
Image
Apparently, the Trump administration is not concerned with that. ABC is reporting that NOAA is down about 2,000 employees since January “as a result of the first round of the Trump administration's cuts.” California Congressman Jared Huffman, who chairs one of the relevant House subcommittees, said, "There is no way to absorb cuts of this magnitude without cutting into these core missions. This is not about efficiency and it's certainly not about waste, fraud and abuse. This is taking programs that people depend on to save lives and emasculating them."
Cuts that sound like a good idea to Elon Musk and Donald Trump have real impacts on the rest of us. That is only just beginning to dawn on people, who I’m sure you’re hearing, like I am, saying, “But I didn’t vote for this.” Trump 2.0, as I’ve written previously, isn’t a pick-your-own-adventure experience. You go to the carnival, you get all of the rides.
We were fortunate last night. Everyone in our house (chickens included) is okay, we just have a little cleanup to do. But so many people weren’t that lucky. They lost houses and lives. They will need support from FEMA and other federal services. If DOGE continues its romp through essential federal work that we, as taxpayers, fund and rely on, it’s only going to get worse.
When will Republicans wake up? Will their Senators and members of Congress protest what DOGE is doing? Will they even fight for their own backyards? If they continue to bend the knee on this, then instead of demanding that government work for their constituents, they are permitting it to work for the financial interests of the powerful.
We know what to do about this. With this piece, and the one Friday night about an Idaho Fair Housing Council that I hope you’ll go back and read if you missed it, we’re putting a face on the people DOGE hurts. It’s not about waste and fraud; it’s about people. People who need their government to work for them. Here’s the phone number for the House switchboard: (202) 224-3121. Here’s that number for the Senate: (202) 224-3121. Make sure your representatives know how you feel.
Thank you for being part of Civil Discourse. Your support makes the newsletter happen, and your questions, ideas, and suggestions are the inspiration behind it. So, I have a favor to ask. If you aren’t already, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. For $6 a month or $50 a year, you can contribute towards the resources it takes to research and write the newsletter.
As Americans, we’re all trying to answer the question, “What can I do to help save our democracy?” My hope is that Civil Discourse provides you with the information and ideas you need to be part of holding the line. More than 590,000 people subscribe to Civil Discourse, and that number grows every day.
We’re in this together,
https://joycevance.substack.com/p/who-d ... irect=true
On March 12, there was reporting that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was preparing to lay off more than 1,000 workers as part of the Trump administration's "reductions in force" directive to federal agencies. Cuts like that call into question whether NOAA will continue to provide the early warnings and predictive modeling that help people prepare for weather emergencies in advance. People who live in hurricane and tornado country keep their “NOAA weather radios” handy, and they are especially important for events that occur, as they frequently do, when most of us are asleep.
In theory, it sounds like one more bad thing to worry about. In practice, it’s much worse. We’ve just had a demonstration of precisely how effective NOAA is and what we stand to lose without it.
Beginning on Friday, violent, long-track tornadoes with damaging winds of up to 80 mph and large hail materialized across the Midwest and South. This was the news Friday night. NOAA’s early warning system, transmitted on social media, radio, television, and by word of mouth, kept it from being much worse.
Saturday was even worse. Here in Birmingham, the alerts started midday.
At 12:27 pm, I got the first alert through the UA campus system, telling me that in light of what was expected, I should seek shelter now instead of waiting for an actual tornado warning. The system sends alerts after the National Weather Service makes the call about what to expect. The National Weather Service (NWS) is a component of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
We’ve grown accustomed to getting this level of detail. NOAA’s information gets pushed out ahead of these events, causing people to plan in advance. Hard helmets were in short supply here yesterday as people prepared for the storms.
We were relatively lucky in Birmingham. But other places were far less fortunate. By Saturday morning, ABC News reported 36 people were dead in the wake of the storms. This was what the devastation looked like in Tylertown, Mississippi. As I’m writing this, the storm is heading east into Georgia.
How much worse would it have been without the accurate forecasting that let our local news people and local emergency systems warn folks in the storms’ paths sufficiently in advance to get to their safe places? As much as I don’t like to think about it, if Trump and DOGE stay on their current path, we are going to be forced to. Mother Nature doesn’t care who you voted for. If there’s a tornado headed your direction, you need access to early warning systems. Gutting NOAA means you won’t have that.
An example of the tornado warnings issued by National Weather Services offices in Alabama throughout the day Saturday, permitting people to find shelter and take cover in advance.
At 8:52 p.m., local television in central Alabama pushed out a message from the National Weather Service: Talladega, take cover now. It was a tornado on the ground near the famous Superspeedway. Alerts meant people were able to stay safe, which is a good thing—this photo of a bus that ended up on the roof of a nearby high school makes it clear that these early warning systems are critically important. What happens if the National Weather Service is no longer there to do that?
Image
Apparently, the Trump administration is not concerned with that. ABC is reporting that NOAA is down about 2,000 employees since January “as a result of the first round of the Trump administration's cuts.” California Congressman Jared Huffman, who chairs one of the relevant House subcommittees, said, "There is no way to absorb cuts of this magnitude without cutting into these core missions. This is not about efficiency and it's certainly not about waste, fraud and abuse. This is taking programs that people depend on to save lives and emasculating them."
Cuts that sound like a good idea to Elon Musk and Donald Trump have real impacts on the rest of us. That is only just beginning to dawn on people, who I’m sure you’re hearing, like I am, saying, “But I didn’t vote for this.” Trump 2.0, as I’ve written previously, isn’t a pick-your-own-adventure experience. You go to the carnival, you get all of the rides.
We were fortunate last night. Everyone in our house (chickens included) is okay, we just have a little cleanup to do. But so many people weren’t that lucky. They lost houses and lives. They will need support from FEMA and other federal services. If DOGE continues its romp through essential federal work that we, as taxpayers, fund and rely on, it’s only going to get worse.
When will Republicans wake up? Will their Senators and members of Congress protest what DOGE is doing? Will they even fight for their own backyards? If they continue to bend the knee on this, then instead of demanding that government work for their constituents, they are permitting it to work for the financial interests of the powerful.
We know what to do about this. With this piece, and the one Friday night about an Idaho Fair Housing Council that I hope you’ll go back and read if you missed it, we’re putting a face on the people DOGE hurts. It’s not about waste and fraud; it’s about people. People who need their government to work for them. Here’s the phone number for the House switchboard: (202) 224-3121. Here’s that number for the Senate: (202) 224-3121. Make sure your representatives know how you feel.
Thank you for being part of Civil Discourse. Your support makes the newsletter happen, and your questions, ideas, and suggestions are the inspiration behind it. So, I have a favor to ask. If you aren’t already, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. For $6 a month or $50 a year, you can contribute towards the resources it takes to research and write the newsletter.
As Americans, we’re all trying to answer the question, “What can I do to help save our democracy?” My hope is that Civil Discourse provides you with the information and ideas you need to be part of holding the line. More than 590,000 people subscribe to Civil Discourse, and that number grows every day.
We’re in this together,
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 3 guests