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The National Center for Atmospheric Research is suing the Trump administration over the potential dissolution of the country's largest weather and climate research center.
The group of universities that leads NCAR alleges that the move is in retaliation for disagreements President Trump has had with Colorado Gov. Jared Polis. The research center is located in Boulder, Colo.
NCAR receives most of its funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation, an independent federal agency. The center conducts climate research and supplies tools, models and datasets used to forecast weather and understand its impact. Many insurers rely on NCAR datasets and forecasts to model weather risk.
According to the lawsuit, last December, Polis allegedly refused to grant clemency to Tina Peters, a former Mesa County, Colo., clerk who was convicted in 2024 for her part in a scheme to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Trump then called Polis a "weak and pathetic man" at a press conference.
The next day, it was announced that NCAR would be broken up. Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought posted on X that "a comprehensive review is underway and any vital activities such as weather research will be moved to another entity or location." He also said the center was "one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country."
A senior White House official later told ABC News that the move was Polis' fault. "Maybe if Colorado had a governor who actually wanted to work with President Trump, his constituents would be better served," the official said. This week, White House spokesman Kush Desai told ABC News that Polis wasn't a factor in the decision.
The lawsuit says the actions taken by the administration violate the Constitution and exceed the bounds of agency authority. It requests that the court declare the actions taken against NCAR as unlawful and issue an injunction to prevent future action.
"These actions pose a direct threat to national security, public safety and economic prosperity and risk setting back the country's global leadership in weather and space weather modeling and forecasting," UCAR said in a statement. "We are hopeful that this lawsuit will prevent future unlawful action by the agencies."
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