NC climate center reopens following funding lapse from Trump administration
A regional climate center based in North Carolina has resumed operations after the Trump administration reversed a halt in funding.
After the Southeast Regional Climate Center shut down for several days, the U.S. Commerce Department agreed to renew the center’s contract for another year.
Housed at UNC-Chapel Hill, the center provides crucial data to meteorologists, scientist and farmers in North Carolina and in five other states across the region.
“Products and services have been restored as our NOAA contract has been renewed,” a banner atop the SERCC’s website reads. “We very much appreciate the support we received from our many users.”
Earlier this month, the SERCC — along with several other regional climate centers across the country — announced it was ceasing operations after its federal funding lapsed.
The centers are managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which President Donald Trump has targeted for over 1,000 job cuts, the AP reported. Already, the agency has fired hundreds of workers, Reuters reported. And records obtained by Science magazine describe plans to ask Congress to eliminate some NOAA climate research programs and cut hundreds of scientists who study the subject.
Charles Konrad, director of the SERCC, said that several days after the center shut down on April 17, the Commerce Department agreed to renew the center’s contract and allow them to resume operations.
Konrad suggested the media attention to the center’s closure may have motivated Washington officials to push for a reinstatement of its funding.
“Numerous media stories came out due to our shutdown, as people could not access our resources,” Konrad said in an email to The News & Observer. “Apparently word reached some influential people on the Hill.”
