Despite proposing deep budget cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) last year, the president signed an appropriations bill into law Friday, funding the weather and climate agency through the fiscal year.
The Trump administration last year floated defunding NOAA’s research arm in a budget estimate document. The closure would have terminated the National Severe Storms Lab and the University of Oklahoma’s Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations (CIWRO).
But U.S. lawmakers largely rejected the proposed cuts, allocating about $6.1 billion to the agency and keeping its research office funded. It also includes money for other science entities like NASA and the National Science Foundation.
In a news release, Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, said the law prioritizes public safety, energy, land stewardship and other concerns.
“The National Weather Center in Norman, Oklahoma, and other vital programs will also continue protecting lives and communities across the country,” he said.
The center houses the regional National Weather Service office, Severe Storms Lab, CIWRO and other weather and climate organizations. Cole lists several of the offices as funding provisions in the appropriations law.
"CIWRO is grateful for the continued support of our state-of-the-art severe weather research that significantly touches the life of every American,” Director Greg McFarquhar said in a statement to StateImpact. “Full funding will allow our teams to continue to explore impactful weather such as freezing rain accumulation analysis, which allows for real-time mapping and analysis of winter weather that can bring travel and transportation to a standstill, as we’re seeing across the country now.”
“Research will also continue to help increase lead time for other costly weather hazards, such as tornadoes, flash flooding, hail and wildfires."
Cole wrote the Southern Climate Impacts Planning Program, which researches climate change and helps communities with adaptation plans, is set to increase its staff with funding from the law.
NOAA is currently filling seats vacated last year within the National Weather Service. Reports at the time estimated hundreds of probationary employees, who are workers new to the job or recently promoted, were let go amid Trump’s efforts to lean out the federal workforce. Some of them were working in Oklahoma.
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