Viewpoint: Cuts should be made, but approach is ‘arrogant,’ ‘reckless’
Copeland Burchenal
As February turns to March and Elon Musk and his clique titled “Department of Government Efficiency” continue to slash at the tendons and ligaments of the United States’ federal government, their indiscriminate attacks are now landing upon the unsung but critical agencies which provide key information and protections to US Citizens.
One of these organizations is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, from which the National Weather Service stems. If we as a nation want to keep our people safe, then attacks against these services should never be tolerated, because the dissolution of NOAA and NWS as outlined by Elon Musk and Project 2025 would spell disaster for private citizens, farmers, and private organizations across the country.
Forming in 1870, the National Weather Service has a long and formidable history of studying and predicting one of the most complex and confusing topics known to man: how atmospheric winds, heat, and moisture all tether together to create what we know as weather.
In order to understand this goliath subject, they have flown C-130 Hurricane Hunters through the hearts of continent-sized storms, launched a system of satellites to provide real-time weather data to every single US Citizen and weather organization in the country, and set up 122 offices which bring cutting edge analysis and reports to our phones, radios, and computers numerous times each day.
These organizations play a keystone role in understanding and alerting the public to the paths of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, arctic fronts, and ocean waves--all of which have a direct impact on the health and economy of our nation. In the face of worsening droughts, more sporadic rain events, and less reliable mountain snowpack, now more than ever we need to be observing our climate and weather patterns.
Western farmers need the real-time data which NWS and NOAA provide in order to make informed choices for their herds and fields. As small-time ranchers are projected to break even less and less as the years go forward, this is yet another blow to the people who help keep our nation fed. In a tale as old as time, men sitting in cushy armchairs in Washington DC have made decisions which they will not feel the repercussions of while the men and women who work in our oceans, forests, and fields are forced to pick up the pieces.
Elon Musk’s decision to fire workers from these organizations, and Project 2025’s overarching desire to see them fully destroyed, are nothing more than blatant threats against our country. Without NOAA and the NWS, data which is used by nearly every single weather-tracking company in the country would cease to exist, and we would be left in the dark all in the name of private interests.
It is true that the federal government needs to become more efficient with how it spends its money, and that we must work to reduce fiscal waste across the board, but the approach which is being taken by Elon Musk is reckless, hasty, short-sighted, and very, very arrogant.