CAC’s Margie Alt Responds to Decimation of NOAA as a Massive Storm Threatens Millions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 4, 2025

CONTACT: Katie Valentine, kvalentine@cacampaign.org

CAC’s Margie Alt Responds to Decimation of NOAA as a Massive Storm Threatens Millions

WASHINGTON–A major storm is moving across a large swath of the country this week, bringing hurricane-force winds, power outages, tornado risks and more to people across the central and southern U.S. – as well as disrupting Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans. The storm is arriving just days after Donald Trump abruptly fired hundreds of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists, meteorologists and other workers. It also comes amidst reports that the Trump administration will soon cancel some NOAA building leases. NOAA’s National Weather Service forecasters provide lifesaving predictions and track storms like this one, providing up-to-date safety information to affected communities. The following is a statement by Climate Action Campaign Director Margie Alt:

“Less than a week since this administration indiscriminately fired forecasters, researchers, and other critical staff at NOAA, our country’s ability to protect Americans from life-threatening severe weather is being tested. This short-sighted and self-defeating decision comes at the exact time when severe weather season is ramping up in parts of the country.

“This week’s massive storm is one of the first to hit our country since the abrupt dismissals at NOAA, but it will be far from the last. Climate change will make storms like this one more frequent and more destructive. Increasingly destructive extreme weather events and fewer weather and climate experts is a deadly equation. Trump and Elon Musk are putting American lives and property – the two things NOAA is dedicated to protecting – at risk.”