NOAA Operations, Research, and Grants
(NOAA Operations & Grants)
Department of CommerceWeather forecasting; fisheries ($300B+ industry); coastal communities; climate researchers; Sea Grant programs in all coastal states
Summary
NOAA Operations, Research, and Grants funds core NOAA activities like weather forecasting, ocean and climate research, fisheries science, and grant programs such as Sea Grant that support coastal states. The FY2027 budget proposes cutting this account by $1,600 million, a 40% reduction, to focus NOAA on 'core weather and navigation services' while eliminating most climate research and grant programs.
Who Is Affected
The cut would eliminate the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), NOAA's main research arm, closing its labs and university-based Cooperative Institutes across the country and ending the Sea Grant program that operates in every coastal and Great Lakes state. It would also cut the National Marine Fisheries Service's operations budget by roughly 30%, affecting fishery managers and the fishing industry, and reduce funding for coastal communities, university researchers, and climate and ocean scientists who rely on these federal programs.
What this cut would actually mean
If enacted, weather and hurricane forecasts would lose the research pipeline that improves their accuracy over time, since NOAA scientists say cutting research 'could regress hurricane forecasting capability by the equivalent of decades.' Fisheries managers would have less data to set sustainable catch limits, risking delayed season openings or lower quotas for fishing communities, while coastal states would lose Sea Grant-funded outreach programs that a Rhode Island lawmaker said helped create an estimated 21,000 jobs nationally from a $94 million investment. Long-term climate monitoring stations, like the Global Monitoring Laboratory's global air-sampling network, would also be at risk of losing the staff and funding needed to keep operating.
Sources
- NOAA Defends Cuts to Research and Climate Monitoring at Budget Hearing - Inside Climate News — Reports that the FY2027 budget would again try to eliminate NOAA's Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and cites a lawmaker's estimate that Sea Grant funding supported 21,000 jobs nationally.
- White House releases FY27 budget proposal, continuing plan of massive cuts to Earth science, including elimination of NOAA Research — Details the FY27 NOAA Operations, Research and Facilities budget request, noting it eliminates OAR and appears to eliminate the Sea Grant office.
- Major budget cuts proposed for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - NPR — Describes how deep NOAA research and fisheries cuts could set back hurricane forecasting and fisheries management, quoting agency scientists and a former OAR director.
- House Republicans Propose Cutting Science Budgets, but by Less than Trump - AIP.ORG — Compares the administration's proposed NOAA Operations, Research, and Facilities cuts to congressional counterproposals and outlines specific program reductions.
- STATEMENT: Proposed $1.6 Billion NOAA Budget Cut Would Endanger Americans and Harm Ocean Health - Ocean Conservancy — Advocacy statement warning that the $1.6 billion cut would weaken weather forecasting, disrupt fisheries management, and stall ocean research.
Administration's Stated Rationale
“Focuses NOAA on core weather and navigation services; reduces climate and grant programs.”