A group of universities that oversee the country\u2019s largest federal climate research center filed a lawsuit Monday challenging the Trump administration\u2019s attempts to dismantle the lab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The suit challenging the decision to break up the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) alleges the Trump administration is waging a \u201cwidespread and coordinated campaign of punishment and coercion\u201d against the state of Colorado over ongoing tension between President Donald Trump and the state\u2019s governor, Jared Polis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was filed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), a nonprofit research group made up of colleges and universities that operates the center, which is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, and is the country\u2019s premier research institute for weather modeling and climate science. The Trump administration announced in December that it planned to break up the center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUCAR and NCAR are collateral damage,\u201d the lawsuit says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump\u2019s disagreements with Polis stem from his concerns about mail-in voting in Colorado and the prosecution of a county clerk who was convicted on state charges of tampering with election equipment in the 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost and has falsely claimed was rife with fraud. Trump had pushed for Polis to release the clerk and ban mail-in voting, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, describes \u201ca campaign of retaliation\u201d in which several federal agencies \u2014 including the National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Commerce Department and the Office of Management and Budget \u2014 are alleged to have targeted NCAR as part of the larger fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three of the federal agencies named in the UCAR lawsuit did not immediately reply to requests for comment, with the exception of the National Science Foundation, which said it does not comment on pending litigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The state of Colorado has sued over other aspects of the alleged campaign to punish the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A lawsuit alleges the Trump administration decided to move U.S. Space Command away from Colorado, terminated $109 million in transportation funds and added new requirements for its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as part of an effort to \u201cpunish\u201d the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A district judge has ruled on only one element of the case so far: SNAP. The administration argued in court that benefits fraud in Colorado necessitated a pilot program, that the federal government had the ability to mandate such a program and that the state did not show the immediate, irreparable harm that would warrant a preliminary injunction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, a district judge sided with the state, issued a preliminary injunction and outlined his reasoning in an order Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new UCAR lawsuit relies on arguments that are similar to the state\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It alleges that federal agencies have issued \u201cgag orders\u201d preventing NCAR employees from communicating with the public about the restructuring, terminated multimillion-dollar agreements to fund research into climate adaptation and mitigation and saddled NCAR and UCAR with new and unlawful reporting requirements. The federal government has also taken steps to move the center\u2019s supercomputing facility in Wyoming out of UCAR\u2019s control, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Agencies\u2019 ultimate apparent goal is to destroy NCAR entirely,\u201d the lawsuit says, noting that the National Science Foundation in January sent out a public notice that it intended to restructure the agency and sought ideas for how to use NCAR\u2019s Boulder campus for different public or private uses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lawsuit alleges that some of the federal government\u2019s recent actions violated the Administrative Procedure Act. It asks the court to halt several of the actions, including the transfer of NCAR\u2019s supercomputing facility and the cancellation of a key NOAA grant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
UCAR and NCAR together provide jobs to about 1,400 scientists, engineers and support staff members, according to the lawsuit. The center\u2019s work focuses on hurricane forecasting, wildfire monitoring, weather prediction and space weather, among other areas. Notably, NCAR operates powerful supercomputers that researchers use for complex modeling work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a statement on its website, UCAR said the federal agencies named in the lawsuit took actions that \u201cpose a direct threat to national security, public safety, and economic prosperity and risk setting back the country\u2019s global leadership in weather and space weather modeling and forecasting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
UCAR said it would not comment further until the lawsuit is resolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n