As the prospect of a major hurricane menaces much of Florida, a quick reminder: Under Project 2025, that controversial right-wing blueprint for a GOP-led national government, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration would be dismantled, doing us all a grave disservice. In Florida, we live and die — sometimes literally — by what the National Hurricane Center and National Weather Service, which are parts of NOAA, tell us. For six whole months every year, from June to the end of November, we’re in the hurricane season. It is critical that we have the best, most trustworthy information to figure out when to leave and when to stay, whether schools need to close, impacts on businesses and how much food and gas to buy to survive. That is happening right now as Florida braces for a major hurricane hit.
And yet, according to Project 2025 — a document hundreds of pages long that lays out a policy agenda and 180-day playbook if the GOP wins the White House — NOAA needs to go. The report calls it “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry and, as such, is harmful to future U.S. prosperity.”
Under this plan, the various parts of NOAA would be “streamlined,” downsized, broken up. The hurricane center would become the focus of increased ideological scrutiny to make sure data collected is presented “without adjustments intended to support any one side in the climate debate.” And the National Weather Service, the plan says, should be commercialized. Wonder whose cronies would benefit from that? Also, many commercial weather services use the information from the NHC and NWS to make their predictions.
The more important question, though, is who would be harmed by this tearing down of the system we rely on for basic health and safety information. Answer: We would — the people of Florida and any other place that relies enormously on the sober, calm assessments of the government professionals at the hurricane center and the weather service.
Do we all remember then-President Donald Trump in “Sharpiegate,” when he took a marker and redrew the cone of concern for Hurricane Dorian in 2019? Enough, already. Hurricanes are no joke and we need competent professionals to help us through them. It’s hard to put into words how important the information from the NHC and NWS becomes as a storm heads toward us. We cling to the utterances of the weather pros during these times of high stress, as we huddle in our homes or debate whether to flee an on-coming storm. We want — no, we need — forecasts that are free of hype, a profit motive and the taint of politics.
Trump, the presumed beneficiary of Project 2025 if he wins the presidency, has smartly tried to distance himself from this proposal, insisting he has had “nothing to do with Project 2025.”
You can almost hear his tires screeching as he tries to get away from the plan. Good luck, though: The Associated Press and CNN have reported that the proposal was drafted with the help of many former Trump administration officials, some apparently poised to fill the top ranks of a potential new administration.
Remember that “who benefits” question? There’s your answer.
There are many reasons to staunchly oppose Project 2025. The dismantling of NOAA is only a small piece of this vast plan to control the government. It also includes proposals to eradicate the Department of Education, make it easier to fire tens of thousands of government workers and impose further restrictions on abortion, among many ideas put forth.
But today, as we watch the brewing storm and feel the dread of those directly in its path, we’re thinking about NOAA and the NHC and the NWS, all critical to our survival of this major storm and so many others. If we needed a reminder, Hurricane Helene is handing it to us.
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By Miami Herald Editorial Board