Stormy weather ahead?

By DENNIS WEBB

Dennis.Webb@gjsentinel.com

Colorado’s U.S senators and U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse are pushing for an investigation into massive Trump administration job cuts in recent days within the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, of which the National Weather Service — which has a local office — is a part.

“The work our scientists and civil servants do at NOAA is essential to U.S. national security, as well as the personal safety and daily lives of Americans. Dismantling NOAA or compromising its capabilities would put Americans across the country at great risk,” Neguse and Sens. John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet, all Democrats, said in a letter to the deputy inspector general of the Department of Commerce, which houses NOAA.

Hundreds of NOAA jobs reportedly have been eliminated, consistent with similar recent job cuts in other federal agencies, and like elsewhere the cuts reportedly have focused on probationary employees who were new hires or new to their current positions.

The National Weather Service office in Grand Junction covers a region including western Colorado and eastern Utah. The Sentinel contacted the office Friday hoping to learn how many local jobs might have been cut and was referred to a NOAA public affairs email address. Susan Buchanan, a NOAA public affairs employee, told the Sentinel in an email that, “Per long-standing practice, we are not discussing internal personnel and management matters.”

“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,” she said. “We continue to provide weather information, forecasts and warnings pursuant to our public safety mission. Thanks for your understanding.”

Joe Ramey, a forecaster who retired from the local office in 2016, said he doesn’t know how many people work there now but when he was there it had perhaps 22-23 employees working in forecasting, supervisory and technician roles. He said he thinks that the last he’d heard, the office already was understaffed. If it loses more employees, he wonders about the office’s ability to provide weather support during the upcoming wildfire and thunderstorm season and next winter’s storm season.

“Are they going to be able to provide that service that people take for granted?” he asked.

In their letter, Neguse, Bennet and Hickenlooper outlined the many roles NOAA staff play. These include its Boulder-based Space Weather Prediction Center providing space weather data to the Defense Department to protect military satellites, GPS and communication networks from solar storms and geomagnetic disruptions.

NOAA staff provide critical information to the Federal Aviation Administration, airports and airlines on weather conditions such as turbulence and fog that can complicate landings and takeoffs, and the weather service’s red flag warnings and fire weather forecasts helped officials save lives and property during the recent fires in California, the lawmakers wrote.

NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System provides essential information and resources to help farmers and ranchers better prepare for, mitigate and respond to the effects of

See WEATHER, page 4A ➤

Lightning zaps over Palisade and illuminates rain curtains and Mt. Garfield in the distance in this Aug. 23, 2024 file photo. The Trump administration’s recent cuts to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, of which the National Weather Service is a part, has drawn the ire of some Colorado members of Congress.

LARRY ROBINSON/ The Daily Sentinel

Joe Ramey, a National Weather Service forecaster in Grand Junction, uses a computer illustration of a monsoonal system to show how the weather pattern often forms over the Gulf of California in Mexico in this 2012 file photo. Ramey, who retired in 2016, wonders about the office’s ability to provide weather support during the upcoming wildfire and thunderstorm season and next winter’s storm season if the office loses any staff in the recent cuts.

SENTINEL FILE PHOTO

The National Weather Service monitoring station is seen in Brownsville, Texas, in this 2014 file photo. Hundreds of National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration jobs reportedly have been eliminated with the Trump administration’s latest job cuts, but the National Weather Service in Grand Junction — which is under the NOAA umbrella — wouldn’t comment on how many jobs would be affected by the cuts.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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drought, they also wrote. They wrote that many of NOAA’s programs are authorized and funded by Congress, and the president isn’t authorized to impound or otherwise withhold funds authorized and appropriated by Congress.

“The scientists at NOAA facilities in Colorado and across the country have dedicated their lives and their careers to public service and innovation, and we should celebrate their contributions rather than putting our country at a disadvantage by purging the agency,” they wrote.

Ramey said probationary employees at the weather service, except in the case of those who have made a job change such as through a promotion, are generally people just out of college.

“That’s the new people that have the latest education and the latest training and have new ideas to bring to the organization,” he said.

Speaking more broadly about the workforce reductions taking place at federal agencies under the Trump administration, Ramey provided the caveat that he views the issue from the biased perspective of a “strong Democrat.” He said he doesn’t think many would argue that the government could be more efficient and that it’s good occasionally to look at ways to make it work more efficiently.

“That said, coming in in a couple of weeks and dropping the hammer on all new hires and anybody else they can literally get their hands on without much effort and just getting rid them of is a way to downsize government,” he said. “It’s also a way to severely impact morale. Just my opinion, I think we’re going to see an impact on the services that government provides to people, but this is an interesting experiment. It’s not an experiment that I approve of but apparently the people in this nation and the (3rd Congressional District) here in Colorado have said they want something like this to happen.”

He thinks one reason people question the need for many of the federal employees is because when there have been federal government shutdowns during congressional budget battles, essential federal workers, which included him during his time at the weather service, continued working.

“What happened during those government shutdowns is the public said, well, the government shut down but there’s no impact on my life so what’s the government doing that I’m paying these taxes for?” Ramey said.

He said that’s a reasonable question, but if a federal shutdown meant no more flights and weather forecasts, and shutdowns of things such as the FBI and CIA, that could better help people understand what the government does for the citizenry.

He said the nation will find out, with worker cuts to agencies such as the weather service, Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service, what the impact will be on fire season this year.

The Democrats in Colorado’s congressional delegation recently wrote to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to decry the firings of 2,300 employees within the Interior Department, including 800 BLM employees and 1,000 in the National Park Service, and to demand that they be rehired. They said the firings came after about 2,700 Interior employees already had accepted a deferred resignation offer from the administration.

“The indiscriminate and short-sighted nature of the firings will hamper the overall mission of the DOI, with the public and our natural resources bearing the brunt of this decision,” they said in their letter.

Asked Friday for details on the number of BLM job losses locally and in Colorado, the BLM told the Sentinel in an emailed statement that it doesn’t “have a comment on personnel matters, however, BLM reaffirms its unwavering commitment to both the American public and the lands we protect. We are working closely with the Office of Personnel Management to ensure we are prioritizing fiscal responsibility for the American people.”

Nick Zielinski, interim executive director of the Colorado Canyons Association, which partners with the BLM on stewardship and education at local national conservation areas, said he doesn’t have a good picture of what’s happening locally in terms of BLM staffing but fortunately, so far the association hasn’t been negatively impacted by any staff cuts at the agency.

“So far, the folks that we’ve worked with, we’ve still been able to get in contact with,” he said.

“... Insofar as some of the issues surrounding federal funding and workforce reductions, the impacts on CCA, we’re not feeling them presently but they’re certainly hanging heavy.”

Zielinski added, “I hope that the funding cuts and workforce reductions are temporary and that the BLM and other federal agencies can continue to effectively administer our public lands because they really do provide countless recreational opportunities while also managing wildfires, avalanche and other public safety hazards. I hope that reduced staffing and funding doesn’t imperil public safety from wildfires and other huge events.”