Colorado experts warn of the fallout from NOAA firings
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BOULDER, Colo. — Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) campus in Boulder, Colorado, Monday to protest the sudden firing of hundreds of workers at the federal agency, which includes the National Weather Service.
President Donald Trump’s administration began the mass layoffs of probationary employees Thursday, Feb. 27 as part of billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) effort to dramatically diminish the federal workforce. Trump and Musk’s cuts have also come for the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other federal agencies.
Lindsey Larvick was one of the fired NOAA workers among the protesters Monday.
She received an email around 2:00 p.m. Thursday informing her that, as a probationary employee, she was losing her job.
“We were told we needed to be out by 3:00 p.m.,” she said.
Larvick, a 29-year-old who worked as a systems administrator in NOAA’s Physical Sciences Laboratory, was part of the federal government’s Pathways Program, which helps students and recent graduates find careers in the federal workforce.
“I actually graduated [in December] and was supposed to convert to a regular federal employee … but because of the hiring freeze they forbid me from converting, which would have pulled me out of probationary status and made me safe,” Larvick said.
Data show Americans are split when it comes to Trump and DOGE’s mass firings. A poll conducted last week by CBS News and YouGov shows that 51% of respondents approve of the staff cuts, while 49% disapprove. Broken down by party, 87% of Republican respondents support the cuts compared to 14% of Democrats. (Over 60% of Independents think the staff and funding cuts will do more harm than good, according to the latest PBS News/NPR/Marist poll.)
Experts in Colorado said the firings at NOAA will be felt by more than just the people like Larvick who lost their livelihood.
“Everybody is using the National Weather Service to some extent, whether it's a weather app or someone on TV, someone in the private sector,” said Andrew Markowitz, a Denver-based energy meteorologist. “Everything, at least to some extent, comes from NOAA and the national weather service.”
Markowitz emphasized that NOAA’s data and weather forecasts are completely free to access. He said the private sector replacing parts of NOAA would mean less convenience for the average person.
“If that were ever to happen, where the private sector would take [NOAA] over, it certainly would not be free and accessible like it currently is,” he said.
The authors of Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for the Trump administration that the president’s policies are closely aligned with, accused NOAA of being "one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry and, as such, is harmful to future U.S. prosperity."
Project 2025's section on NOAA — authored by Thomas F. Gilman, a former official in Trump's Commerce Department — called for NOAA to be “dismantled and many of its functions eliminated, sent to other agencies, privatized, or placed under the control of states and territories.”
Project 2025's section on NOAA — authored by Thomas F. Gilman, a former official in Trump's Commerce Department — called for NOAA to be “dismantled and many of its functions eliminated, sent to other agencies, privatized, or placed under the control of states and territories.”
Daniel Rothenberg is an atmospheric scientist based in Weld County. He has worked in the private sector for nearly a decade and said he’s skeptical of the Republican effort to privatize NOAA’s services.
Rothenberg said NOAA is an important pillar in what he referred to as the “weather enterprise,” or the collaboration between the government (including NOAA), the private sector and the academic sector.
“Pretty much every single weather company out there relies on data from NOAA in one way, shape or form… and there’s a lot of concerns right now about what this relationship could look like in the future,” he said. “Is data going to continue to be free?”
“These are things that are going to have huge ripple effects all across not only the weather enterprise, but the economy more generally.”
Rothenberg said private companies could expand their forecast offerings, referencing an ongoing push in the private sector’s development of weather satellites.
“But I don’t know that they can fundamentally replace a lot of the services that NOAA offers,” Rothenberg said.
“I don’t think that we can absorb all the capabilities that NOAA provides, and we certainly can’t reproduce all of the value that the National Weather Service creates for the American public.”
A majority of the tens of thousands of Coloradans who work for the federal government live in Republican-led districts, according to data analysis from the Congressional Research Service.
Rocky Mountain PBS asked NOAA how many Coloradans were laid off as part of the NOAA cuts, and what services, if any, will be affected.
“Per long-standing practice, we are not discussing internal personnel and management matters, nor do we do speculative interviews,” said NOAA spokesperson Scott Smullen. “NOAA remains dedicated to its mission, providing timely information, research, and resources that serve the American public and ensure our nation’s environmental and economic resilience.”
Admiral Tim Gallaudet, who Trump appointed as acting NOAA chief during the president’s first term, told the Associated Press that the firings will “affect safety of flight, safety of shipping, safety of everyday Americans … lives are at risk for sure.”
Former director of NOAA’s National Weather Service Elbert “Joe” Friday told the AP that NOAA’s services are vital for wildfire and avalanche preparedness in the West.
9News meteorologist Chris Bianchi said the firings marked “a sad day for American and global meteorology.”
Waleed Abdalati, the director of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at CU Boulder, which has partnered with NOAA for almost 60 years, said in a Friday statement that the institute watched the layoffs with “tremendous dismay.”
“In particular, to our colleagues at NOAA, we want to express our deepest appreciation for your service in support of our shared mission — a mission that ultimately protects lives and property. While the value of what you do may not be obvious to some, it benefits all,” he wrote.
For now, Larvick has filed for unemployment while she tries to figure out her next move.
“The federal government is obviously not currently the place for me,” she said, “so I’ll be looking elsewhere.”
Rocky Mountain PBS multimedia journalist Cormac McCrimmon contributed to this report.
Rocky Mountain PBS multimedia journalist Cormac McCrimmon contributed to this report.
Type of story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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