Washington:Â President Donald Trump's administration is seeking to slash one of the government's premier climate science agencies by 17 per cent, delivering steep cuts to research funding and satellite programs, according to a four-page budget memo obtained by The Washington Post.
The proposed cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would also eliminate funding for a variety of smaller programs including external research, coastal management, estuary reserves and "coastal resilience," which seeks to bolster the ability of coastal areas to withstand major storms and rising seas.
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NOAA is part of the Commerce Department budget, which would be hit by an overall 18 per cent reduction from its current funding level.
The Commerce Department has also been asked to provide information about how much it would cost to lay off employees, while saying those employees who do remain with the department should get a 1.9 per cent pay increase in January 2018. It requested for estimates for terminating leases and "property disposal."
The Office of Management and Budget outline for Commerce for fiscal year 2018 proposed sharp reductions in specific areas within NOAA, such as spending on education, grants, and research. NOAA's Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric
Research would lose $US126 million ($165 million), or 26 per cent, of the funds it has under the current budget. Its satellite data division would lose $US513 million, or 22 per cent, of its current funding under the proposal.
A White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the process was "evolving" and cautioned against specific numbers.
The biggest single cut comes from NOAA's satellite division, known as the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, which includes a key repository of climate and environmental information, the National Centres for Environmental Information. Researchers there were behind a recent study suggesting that there has been no recent slowdown in the rate of climate change -- research that drew the ire of Republicans in Congress.
![National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite image of Hurricane Rita in 2005.](/web/20170308162210im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/q/q/y/w/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.guqqvu.png/1488602934539.jpg)
Another proposed cut would eliminate a $73 million program called Sea Grant, which supports coastal research conducted through 33 university programs across the country. That includes institutions in many swing states that went for President Trump, such as the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Michigan, Ohio State University, the University of Florida, and North Carolina State University.
Washington Post