The Trump administration’s proposed slashing of the budget for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration continues to stir strong reactions in Boulder.
It was reported Friday by the Washington Post that President Donald Trump’s budget will propose cutting 17 percent, or $990 million, from the budget of NOAA, one of the nation’s lead climate science agencies.
The impact of such reductions would be considerable for research funding and satellite programs, as well as initiatives pertaining to coastal management and resilience. But it could also be felt locally on the economic front.
The Business Research Division of the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado produces the CO-LABS Economic Impact Study every few years. Its last report, published in August 2013, said NOAA contributed $277.7 million to the state economy for fiscal year 2012, and supported direct and indirect employment to 2,101 workers.
The report said that while NOAA’s research reach went from the “surface of the sun to the depths of the ocean floor,” it also stated that NOAA’s “products and services provide economic vitality and influence more than one-third of U.S. gross domestic product.”
According to CO-LABS Executive Director Dan Powers, a report updating those numbers — and related data on every federal lab in Colorado — is now expected in about two weeks.
And whatever the new numbers show about NOAA’s status as an economic engine in the community, Powers said, “It can’t be overstated how important and crucial and used the information coming out of the federal labs is.
“When it comes to severe weather prediction and other types of tangible ways that the detail and data that NOAA collects is used, particularly by public safety and offices of emergency management personnel, the notion that we might cut back the collection of that data within NOAA’s budget is really indefensible.”
Boulder Mayor Suzanne Jones said the potential cuts are a topic in city hall.
“We are very concerned,” Jones said. “Trying to maintain consistency in, and robust funding for, the more than a dozen federal labs in Boulder is a top priority for us.
“And the last time I was in D.C., we talked to both our senators about helping to lead the charge to maintain the jobs and the funding and the innovation and the technological advances that come from this funding. And we hope they will help us push back against these cuts.”
Jones said that in those meetings in January, she felt that both Colorado senators, Democrat Michael Bennet and Republican Cory Gardner, got the message.
“It shouldn’t be about politics,” Jones said. “If you go and tour some of these facilities, it’s good old American know-how. You can’t help but be excited. And our senators get that, and will be looking to help us maintain funding for this very important sector of our economy and workforce.”
Also adding his voice to the commentary around the potential NOAA cuts is Waleed Abdalati, director of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences.
CIRES is a partnership between NOAA and the University of Colorado, through which about 380 of CIRES’ scientists and staff work within NOAA. Also, about half of CIRES’ funding — it had total expenditures in fiscal year 2016 of more than $85 million — comes from its cooperative agreement with NOAA.
Abdalati issued a statement this week which said the reported cuts to science-based agencies have caused “considerable angst” at CIRES, but reminded that a budget proposal is not a finalized spending plan, and that “there is a long road” between the White House proposal and a final budget.
“I am firmly convinced that this work is too important to national interests to be compromised as significantly as has been proposed,” Abdalati said, “and I will be working with colleagues in business, industry, academia and elsewhere, who are similarly committed to success in these areas of research and service, to make sure that this importance is both understood and supported.”
Charlie Brennan: 303-473-1327, brennanc@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/chasbrennan
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