The consortium of universities and the scientists that run the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder are suing their bosses at the National Science Foundation and the Trump administration to block what they say is political retribution against Colorado in the form of dismantling the storied lab.
The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, the group of 129 universities and colleges that contracts to run NCAR, filed suit Monday in U.S. District Court for Colorado against the foundation, the U.S. Commerce Department and other layers in the federal hierarchy.
They accuse the Trump administration of “arbitrary and capricious” actions to sell off pieces of NCAR’s research duties, gagging consortium officials from talking about it and canceling contracts in a revenge campaign against Colorado for refusing to bend to GOP political will. The consortium says it is being attacked because Colorado will not give up mail-in voting and other election measures Trump despises, and because the state will not pardon former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters and release her from a nine-year sentence for election interference.
When faced with Colorado’s resistance, the lawsuit says, “the agencies launched a widespread and coordinated campaign of punishment and coercion” targeting a number of federal contracts and institutions in the state. Attorney General Phil Weiser is involved in dozens of lawsuits making the same accusations, the suit notes.
The alleged actions “also risk directly undermining the Trump Administration’s expressed goals of retaining the country’s position of leadership in weather forecasting and continuing the tradition of American innovation and modernization, particularly in space weather modeling and forecasting,” the new lawsuit says.
The consortium asks the federal court to stop the dismantling of NCAR, restore all contracts, lift the gag on consortium officials and end onerous reporting requirements. NCAR and UCAR together employ about 1,400 people in Boulder, the lawsuit says.
The Trump administration’s actions, the lawsuit says, violate Colorado’s right to exercise “sovereign powers reserved to it by the Constitution, including the power to regulate elections and to administer criminal justice.”
The primary actions protested in the lawsuit include:
- The science foundation’s divesting UCAR of running the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center
- Termination of a multimillion-dollar cooperative agreement to fund climate adaptation and mitigation research
- Writing an open letter to private companies offering to let them manage NCAR’s “space weather activities, weather modeling capabilities and atmospheric observation platforms”
- Soliciting interest in the ownership of NCAR’s landmark Mesa Laboratory building in Boulder for either private or public use
“The agencies’ ultimate goal is to destroy NCAR entirely,” the lawsuit concludes.
The Trump administration’s solicitation of proposals to privatize some of NCAR’s weather and atmosphere functions also prompted a recent inquiry from U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse.
The Boulder Democrat passed on whistleblower allegations about the potential sale and “demanded an independent investigation into allegations of potential conflicts of interest and regulatory improprieties related to the Trump administration’s attempts to dismantle” NCAR.