A consortium of universities filed a lawsuit Monday to stop the Trump administration’s planned dismantling of Boulder’s National Center for Atmospheric Research, alleging that the planned reorganization is retaliatory and violates federal law.
The plaintiff is the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, a nonprofit consortium of 129 North American universities that manages NCAR on behalf of the National Science Foundation. The UCAR sued several federal agencies and their leaders in Colorado’s federal court.
The administration’s plans to neuter NCAR are part of a “campaign of retaliation” against Colorado’s state government and its leaders for maintaining mail-in voting and refusing to grant clemency to Tina Peters, a former county clerk and Trump ally convicted of felonies in an election misconduct case, the lawsuit alleges. NCAR is slated to become collateral damage of the larger power struggle, the lawsuit alleges.
Since December, the administration has sought to transfer the management of NCAR’s supercomputer, canceled millions of dollars intended for climate research, imposed gag orders on employees, proposed the sale of the center’s iconic headquarters and solicited public comment on how to restructure the organization.
“These actions pose a direct threat to national security, public safety, and economic prosperity and risk setting back the country’s global leadership in weather and space weather modeling and forecasting,” leaders from the university group wrote in a news release announcing the litigation. “We are hopeful that this lawsuit will prevent future unlawful action by the agencies.”
The Trump administration first announced its intention to “break up” NCAR in December, with a top budget official calling it “one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country.”
While the institute investigates climate change, its mission is much broader and encompasses every aspect of how the earth’s atmosphere and weather systems interact. That includes research on earthquakes, flooding, drought, geomagnetic storms in space, wildfires, wind, storms and more.
The center, founded in 1960, provides the data and models that other institutions and universities rely on for forecasting and research. Industries like aviation, agriculture and shipping also rely on its information to make decisions.
About 820 employees work for NCAR, approximately half of whom live in the Boulder area and work at the center’s iconic building perched on a hill on the edge of town.
Attempts to reach the National Science Foundation and the White House about the lawsuit on Monday afternoon were not immediately successful.
The federal leaders seeking to dismantle NCAR have not detailed any concerns with the quality of the work completed there or regulatory compliance, the lawsuit states.
“The Agencies’ adverse actions designed to weaken UCAR and undermine or dismantle NCAR’s operations are all part and parcel of the campaign to punish Colorado,” the lawsuit states.
Trump has repeatedly demanded that Colorado leaders end the state’s primarily mail-ballot voting system and release Peters. Trump on Dec. 11 issued a federal pardon to Peters — which had no legal bearing on her conviction in state court.
When Peters remained incarcerated in a state prison in the days that followed, the administration rescinded $109 million in federal transportation funding allocated to Colorado and implemented new rules for its food-assistance program. Trump vetoed a bipartisan bill passed by Congress that would have helped finance a Republican-supported water project, and his administration denied the state’s applications for wildfire and flooding relief money while announcing plans to take apart NCAR.
Since then, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, has publicly voiced concern that Peters’ nine-year sentence was too “harsh” and floated the idea of reducing it. Most recently, though, his office has indicated that he will wait until after the Colorado Court of Appeals finishes reviewing Peters’ convictions.
The dismantling of NCAR has already begun, Monday’s lawsuit says.
The administration has sought to transfer stewardship of the Cheyenne-based NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputer Center, which is relied upon by thousands of researchers across the globe for weather forecasts and data. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, without warning, canceled a multimillion-dollar agreement with the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research for climate science.
In February, the National Science Foundation began requesting detailed records regarding NCAR’s budgeting, staff expenses, and grants that the lawsuit characterized as needlessly burdensome. The foundation, which oversees NCAR, also banned its employees from making any public comments on the changes.
“Far from advancing any legitimate purpose, the Agencies’ retaliatory actions are undermining the Trump Administration’s objectives of maintaining superiority in weather forecasting, technological advancement, and supercomputing,” the lawsuit states.
The plans to dismantle NCAR prompted a recent rebuke from some members of Colorado’s congressional delegation. Republican Rep. Jeff Hurd joined three Democrats — Rep. Joe Neguse and U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper — in a letter submitted last week to the National Science Foundation to oppose the administration’s plans.
“In sum, we oppose the restructuring and weakening of NCAR, which would erode critical research capacity, disrupt long-standing partnerships, and diminish our ability to understand, anticipate, and respond to extreme weather-related risks,” their letter read.
Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter, The Spot.
