Agriculture, emergency preparedness and more could be impacted after hundreds laid off from agency headquartered in Maryland.
BY: DANIELLE J. BROWN, Rhode Island Current
Democratic lawmakers and former agency officials said Friday that more than 600 layoffs last week at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would affect services ranging from emergency preparedness to agricultural forecasting, in Maryland and across the nation.
Magaziner: Ocean State fishing and aquaculture industry at risk
Reports that the Trump Administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency plan to slash the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) workforce and budget could have a devastating impact on Rhode Island’s economy and environment, U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner, member of the House Natural Resources Committee, said on Sunday.
Magaziner will hold a roundtable with Rhode Island fishing, aquaculture, environmental, and conservation leaders Monday at 9:30 a.m. at Save the Bay in Providence.
“Reckless cuts could gut vital research that fisheries depend on, delay seafood export certifications, jeopardize weather forecasting, and cripple conservation efforts,” according to a release from Magaziner’s office.
Joining Magaziner for the roundtable are former Administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Service Janet Coit; Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management Director Terry Gray; Save the Bay Director of Advocacy Jed Thorp; East Coast Shellfish Growers Association Executive Director Bob Rheault; and Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island Executive Director Fred Mattera.
The cuts Thursday to NOAA, headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland, were just the latest in a string of federal firings by the Trump Administration under the direction of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, which has terminated thousands of jobs in an effort to cut down of federal spending.
NOAA has a wide range of responsibilities, including oversight of the National Weather Service, which tracks dangerous weather and provides information for the public and for emergency management teams bracing for them.
“NOAA is our first line of defense against extreme weather events,” said U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) in a virtual press conference Friday. “They are our eyes and ears, and so when you close your eyes and plug your ears, people will get hurt.
“Without the warnings of severe weather events – hurricanes, tsunamis, other things — people will die and others will suffer greatly, including huge property loss,” Van Hollen said. “That is why this is such an assault on our public safety.”
Van Hollen was joined U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, and former NOAA officials to stress the importance of the agency’s role not only in weather communications and emergency preparedness, but also warn of the potential economic and agricultural impacts that the layoffs could bring. They charged that the layoffs are the start of efforts to privatize the services provided by the National Weather Service and NOAA.
“These are the people who conduct critical scientific and regulatory work that protects American families’ safety,” Huffman said. “NOAA’s weather forecasts are used by aviation experts to prevent airline disasters and keep our skies safe for the millions that travel the country everyday. These cuts will put people in danger.”
Van Hollen said some 650 people at NOAA were laid off Thursday, although he was not able to say how many of those jobs were at NOAA headquarters in Silver Spring and how many were scattered in offices across the country.
But the Maryland economy, with its heavy reliance on the federal government, has already felt an outsized impact from the Trump administration’s effort to cut government agencies and workers. The state is home to roughly 160,000 federal jobs, a number that does not include workers at intelligence agencies in the state, or the countless contractors who do business with the federal government.
State officials said this week that about 1,300 federal workers in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties have already lost their jobs, and 450 former federal workers have applied for unemployment benefits in recent weeks…
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