The Trump administration has proposed a $1.7 billion, or about 27%, cut to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s 2026 budget and the elimination of nearly all NOAA climate research labs. According to an internal document, the cuts are part of a larger plan to “eliminate all funding for climate, weather, and ocean laboratories and cooperative institutes.”
The proposal would devastate NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), the research arm of the agency, cutting its budget by $485 million to about $171 million. “At this funding level, OAR is eliminated as a line office,” according to the document. The Trump administration also proposes cutting the National Ocean Service in half, shuttering the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, and cutting NOAA’s climate research grants program, which awards $70 million annually to academic scientists.
According to Craig McLean, the longtime director of OAR who retired in 2022, “[the proposed cuts] wouldn’t just gut [the office]. It would shut it down.” The proposed budget must be approved by Congress.