I suppose one could say “this is just spin.” But it’s not.
The Trump administration is seeking to slash one of the government’s premier climate science agencies by 17 percent, 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.
This is on a day where I’m watching GOES-16, the latest weather satellite, return real-time images of a quality only the Japanese had prior to this year. Meteorologists are drooling over them. They could help a great deal with a great many things.
The article also says:
The National Marine Fisheries Service and National Weather Service would be fortunate by comparison, suffering only 5 percent cuts.
which is nice, but...allow me to rant here. Those with delicate dispositions, I suggest you leave the diary now because I shall use the full command of English’s colorful metaphors.
A lot of people use weather apps. Fine. A lot of other people watch the Weather Channel. Also fine. Almost everyone has a local meteorologist on a local TV station who they watch religiously, even if they hate the rest of the newscast. That’s great. Also fine. And thanks to a buncha people, lots of people have a passing knowledge of weather modeling and know how to find that information directly. Awesome.
A not unsubstantial number think that it’s okay, then, to sell off, privatize, or otherwise end the National Weather Service for a number of reasons that boil down to “it’s not fair because then private weather services can’t make money!”
This is horseshit of the highest fucking order, I mean goddamn.
Where do people think that data comes from? Where the pluperfect fuck do they think the weather modeling data comes from?
Everything comes from the Weather Service, paid for by you. They are then free to do what they want with that data---and the Weather Service doesn’t compete with them at all. And the Weather Service depends on the Satellite Data services to do its fucking work.
The end of the coastal resilience program is ----------oh fuck these people. But you know full well when his own personal funds run out, Trump will expect Palm Beach County, Florida to shell out money to fortify the coast around his golf resort at Mar-a-Largo---money it probably doesn’t have.
The figures are part of OMB’s “passback” document, a key part of the annual budget process in which the White House instructs agencies to draw up detailed budgets for submission to Congress. The numbers often change during the course of negotiations both between the agency and the White House as well as lawmakers and the administration later on. The 2018 fiscal year starts Oct. 1.
A spokesperson for Commerce declined to comment. A White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the process was “evolving” and cautioned against specific numbers. The official would not respond to questions about the four-page passback document.
I guess there’s hope that during the budget reconciliation process a lot of these cuts get blunted or outright restored but I doubt it. This is a country where Christianity means meanness, good government now means cruelty, and wanting actual real and good science means you’re an elitist who hates America and some passive-aggressive ass for a deity. These cuts would take effect in October, so this will likely be the last hurricane season where there’s any quality science left from our government.