Famous Climate Observatory's Lease May End Because of DOGE

New York Times

14-03-2025

On the flanks of the largest active volcano on Earth, the Mauna Loa Observatory tracks the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that are warming the planet, and has been doing so since 1958.
But the office in Hilo, Hawaii that manages the world-famous site could close in August, according to a copy of an internal federal document viewed by The New York Times.
The observatory has been a pole star of global scientific research. The data collected there helped to create the Keeling Curve, a famous upward-sweeping graph that documents the steep rise in carbon dioxide concentrations over decades.
'These data are our eyes on the planet,' said Ralph Keeling, a climate science professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego and the son of Charles Keeling, the curve's creator. 'It's really vital base line data for how things are going to change going forward.'
The observatory's office is among 30 buildings operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the nation's leading agency for climate research, that are listed on the spreadsheet for possible lease terminations, beginning as early as May.
It is unclear what would happen to operations at the observatory if the office were to close. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to comment, writing in an email, 'As a matter of policy, we do not respond to reporters with pronouns in their bios.'
Over the course of a day, the levels of carbon dioxide rise and fall, and within a year, there are seasonal variations. But the Keeling Curve shows the number has risen by more than 100 parts per million since 1958. In 2024, more carbon was emitted than ever before, and the average annual reading showed a record jump from the year prior.
That rise has warmed the atmosphere, causing climate change that has led to more frequent and intense extreme weather events like heat waves, floods and wildfires.
The Department of Government Efficiency, the cost-cutting effort spearheaded by billionaire Elon Musk, has so far proposed terminating 793 leases across the federal government. The list on the DOGE webpage includes at least 19 NOAA leases. The federal government could save about $500 million by ending them, according to DOGE. That is less than 0.1 percent of the more than $1.3 trillion that the U.S. government will spend on defense in fiscal year 2025.
In addition, the General Services Administration, which manages federal real estate, posted, and then took down, a list of 443 federal buildings it planned to sell, designating them as 'not core to government operations.' If implemented, that list, which included at least five child care facilities, could potentially save the government 'more than $430 million in annual operating costs,' according to a March 4 news release.
At least 13 are NOAA buildings according to a document created by former NOAA employees and viewed by The New York Times.
One building on that list was a NOAA satellite control room outside Washington, D.C., from where the federal government oversees a fleet of at least 15 weather satellites. Another was the National Center for Environmental Information in Asheville, N.C., which manages the digital and physical archives of more than a century of climate data.
A GSA spokesman told The Times in an email that since publishing the list, the agency had 'received an overwhelming amount of interest' and that the list would be 'republished in the near future.' Such initiatives were in support of the Trump administration's executive order empowering DOGE to cut costs, according to the statement.
But the initial GSA list added to the anxiety caused by the federal shake-up in personnel and funding allocations, according to Janet Coit, the former assistant administrator of NOAA Fisheries.
Ms. Coit said that NOAA Fisheries operates out of many leased facilities, and if leases are abruptly terminated, staff won't know whether they have an office or access to essential equipment.
'If you kick them out of their offices,' said Ms. Coit, 'you just reduce their effectiveness and their ability to do their jobs.'
Nine of the 30 proposed lease terminations at NOAA are law enforcement offices for NOAA Fisheries. These offices monitor more than four million square miles of ocean along the United States and territorial coastlines. Those officers make sure that seafood is harvested sustainably and in compliance with the law.
Along with potential lease terminations and facility sales, staffing reductions have impacted the accessibility of climate science.
The National Centers for Environmental Information announced this week that monthly media briefings on U.S. and global climate data, including monthly temperature and precipitation reports, would end in April.
John Bateman, a meteorologist and NOAA spokesman, said in an email on Thursday that the change came after the center lost 'a significant number of its staff' through job cuts and retirements.
In February, 1,300 workers were terminated from NOAA and another 1,000 layoffs are planned. Together, those initial cuts could reduce agency staff by nearly 20 percent.