After the National Science Foundation published a letter on Jan. 23 exploring plans to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Colorado’s congressional delegation and other state leaders are pushing back.
The NSF letter asked the scientific community to submit comments by March 13 explaining what NCAR does and how it could be “restructured,” including soliciting proposals for new public or private ownership of NCAR’s Mesa Laboratory in Boulder. Rep. Joe Neguse is attempting to mobilize a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers to submit a formal response and has urged Colorado residents to submit their own comments in support of NCAR. The NSF has asked that responses be limited to two to three pages and be emailed to NSF_NCAR@nsf.gov.
Colorado Sens. John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet introduced language this month to protect NCAR in a funding bill, but the amendment was voted down. Both senators and Neguse voted against the final bill after their proposed language was left out.
Hickenlooper’s office told Boulder Reporting Lab that the senator is continuing to push for a Senate vote on his amendment to fully fund NCAR and “will keep voting against Senate funding packages until that happens.”
The appropriations bill funding NCAR for 2026 has already been signed by the president and does not include language specifically protecting or targeting NCAR. The bill funds the NSF at about $60 million less than last year, a fraction of the $3.9 billion in cuts proposed by the Trump administration. There may be opportunities to add language protecting NCAR to 2027 appropriations bills this spring.
In a statement released Jan. 27, Neguse called the Trump administration’s attempt to dismantle NCAR retaliatory and “reprehensible.”
“We will continue to fight against it on all fronts,” he said. “NCAR is a vital, cutting-edge research institution, and dismantling it would be reckless, dangerous, and place the United States at a serious competitive disadvantage.”
The administration’s initial move to dismantle NCAR followed a political dispute between Trump and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, after Trump criticized the state over the prosecution and sentencing of former Mesa County election official Tina Peters. Trump attempted to intervene in Peters’ case, but was unable to do so because the conviction was under state law.
NCAR is funded by the National Science Foundation and administered by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. It employs about 830 people and is headquartered in Boulder. It remains unclear how a breakup or potential privatization would affect employees or the organization’s Table Mesa campus.
While Trump administration officials have falsely portrayed NCAR as a source of climate “alarmism,” researchers widely regard the Boulder-based center as a world-leading scientific institution whose work underpins weather forecasting, space weather monitoring, atmospheric chemistry and core Earth system science relied on globally. Scientists warn that dismantling NCAR would cripple research used to predict extreme weather, protect lives and infrastructure, and limit the most damaging impacts of climate change.
Dan Powers, executive director of CO-LABS, which promotes Colorado research, also released a statement expressing deep concern about the NSF letter. He noted that the United States has seen an average of $150 billion per year in weather-related disaster losses over the past decade.
“At a time when weather and climate extremes are imposing billions of dollars in losses and increasing risks to lives and infrastructure, weakening NCAR would leave the nation less prepared, less competitive, and less secure,” Powers said, adding that every dollar invested in weather research yields multiple dollars in avoided losses.
Powers pointed to NCAR’s role in public safety and economic stability, including its importance to the Defense Department.
“While the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) documents the rising number and cost of billion-dollar weather disasters, NCAR supplies the research and modeling infrastructure that enables better forecasts and risk information used to mitigate those losses,” he said, citing models like its Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model that are used by NOAA, the Department of Defense, aviation systems and private weather firms.
Joe Neguse wants us to create a letter writing campaign but to whom? What should it say?
The story states where to submit feedback to the NSF.