Zornio: Trump’s plan to upend NOAA could decimate Colorado’s economy

Donald Trump is at it again, and this time he has an agenda.

The infamous Project 2025 is steeped in far right conspiracy theories and anti-working class policies, many of which would upend America as we know it. Among the administration’s 900-page blueprint for national implosion are four pages that detail a unique and disturbing dismantling of core government services that would not only upend national security, but could impact Colorado disproportionately.

So what’s on those four pages? Destabilization of the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, apparently.

Full details of the proposed cuts to NOAA remain unclear. But Project 2025 falsely targets NOAA as a core “climate change alarm industry” and outlines how to significantly break up, downsize and privatize it. It also suggests the new head of the agency should “deviate from government rules” as needed to achieve the desired results, causing alarm bells to ring for many who fear such actions to upend NOAA would be a grave mistake.

Executive Director Dan Powers of CO-LABS, a nonprofit that seeks to educate about Colorado’s federally funded research laboratories, echoed concerns of funding cuts to NOAA, specifically noting the entity’s history under the U.S. Department of Commerce as a nod to its invaluable economic benefits.

“NOAA was created in 1970 to combine existing government weather and environmental research agencies, which went back to the early 1800s,” Powers explained. “It was formed intentionally under the mission of the U.S. Department of Commerce to provide accurate scientific weather and climate information to inform farming and food production, and provide data to help businesses from trucking to fishing to airlines and now space weather-affected companies providing our internet, smartphone communications, GPS and energy infrastructure.

“NOAA’s labs have enabled and are absolutely crucial to our safety and prosperity and global leadership,” Powers said. “It’s stunning and irresponsible to suggest broadly de-funding the science that allows us all to eat, travel, work and live. As our elected leaders look into NOAA and the Earth System Research Laboratories, they’ll have to support their crucial research.”

Threats by the Trump administration to dismantle NOAA could provoke economic impacts that reach far beyond the scientific community in Colorado. Multiple cities statewide are home to key weather and forecasting stations, including Boulder, Pueblo and Grand Junction, with copious data collection and collaborations extending into all corners. This includes countless active partnerships with local universities, businesses, weather forecasters, airports and emergency response teams to assist in a wide array of sectors ranging from agriculture to aviation.

The defunding of NOAA could also have drastic impacts on Colorado’s ability to respond to the increasing number of billon-dollar climate disasters, as NOAA staff play a primary role in identifying and monitoring climate- and weather-related risks to the state.

For example, between 1980 and 2024, there were 75 confirmed disaster events exceeding $1 billion in losses within the state of Colorado, leading to an annual adjusted average of 1.6 events. This included 42 severe storms, 15 droughts, 12 wildfires, three winter storms, two floods and one freezing event.

In recent years, however, this annual adjusted average has spiked to 3.6, including the Marshall fire and multiple devastating hailstorms on the eastern and southern plains. All of these events were actively tracked and reported to the public via NOAA staff, allowing the public ample time to prepare and evacuate. All of these events would likely have been substantially worse without NOAA, and similar economic benefits to NOAA’s work can be seen nationwide.

Powers gave a nod to the importance of local weather and climate forecasting, noting the overall national security component as well. “It’s about global competitiveness,” he said. “Would we want to rely on weather tracking from other nations?”

“We’re lucky these laboratories are here,” Powers continued. “These are assets to the nation. It behooves us all to invest in this kind of science.”

All of this raises the question: How do Colorado’s political leaders, particularly those in the Republican Party representing hard-hit areas, feel about the incoming administration’s threat to defund NOAA? Will they help urge Trump to reconsider from the inside, or will they fall in line putting their constituents at risk? Who among them will stand up for Colorado’s farmers, truckers and pilots?

For my money, I’d bet none.

Trish Zornio is a scientist, lecturer and writer who has worked at some of the nation’s top universities and hospitals. She’s an avid rock climber and was a 2020 candidate for the U.S. Senate in Colorado. Trish can be found on Twitter @trish_zornio

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