Boulder leaders and organizations are answering the National Science Foundation’s call for public comments with demands to stop all plans of restructuring the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
The NSF issued a call for public comments regarding NCAR after the Trump administration made threats to dismantle NCAR in December, and the NSF announced its intent to restructure its critical weather science infrastructure. In January, the NSF announced it would consider proposals for new private or public ownership to take over the NCAR’s Mesa Lab in Boulder, and it put out a call for public feedback regarding NCAR’s management and operations. The deadline to submit public feedback was on Friday.
Former U.S. Rep. David Skaggs submitted a letter to the NSF highlighting NCAR’s research and the importance of its staying intact. He represented CD 2, the district which includes NCAR, for 12 years, and he served on the board of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, which manages NCAR under agreement with NSF.
“To get right to the point, the proposal is economically, scientifically, administratively, and morally stupid,” Skaggs wrote in a letter to the NSF. “To respond to the suggested questions on which you invite comment would be to concede there might be any merit in the proposed assault on NCAR.”
The Office of Management and Budget “normally touts the need for rigorous cost-benefit analysis of policy proposals,” Skaggs wrote. He called on the NSF to “please share whatever analysis has been performed,” questioning how climate science would advance with the proposed changes to NCAR.
“You have a profound responsibility to the public and to the future to get this right; i.e., STOP,” Skaggs wrote.
Dan Powers, the executive director of CO-LABS, submitted a letter highlighting the importance of NCAR across industries, including aerospace and aviation; agriculture and water management; insurance, reinsurance and financial risk; private weather and environmental intelligence; and space weather and aerospace technology. CO-LABS is a nonprofit group in Boulder that champions the value of taxpayer-funded science and research and brings scientists and labs together.
“NCAR is not simply a public research institution — it is foundational infrastructure for a wide range of weather, public utility, transportation, airline, agriculture, public safety, and communications technology partners that depend on NCAR’s research, data, and expertise,” Powers wrote.
NCAR employs about 830 people in highly specialized scientific, technical and operational roles, Powers wrote. Those are high-wage, high-skill positions that anchor the regional economy and support contractors, suppliers, and science-adjacent businesses across Colorado and the country, he said.
“CO-LABS encourages NSF to hold any restructuring proposals to the standard of preserving the integrated, accessible, and stable capabilities that the private sector and public alike rely upon,” Powers wrote.
The Boulder Chamber also submitted a letter, describing how NCAR represents more than one research facility — it’s a foundational component that’s part of a larger public and private ecosystem. It supports major sectors of the U.S. economy and anchors high-skill jobs and American scientific leadership.
“Atmospheric observations, computational infrastructure, model development, and scientific expertise function as a unified system,” the chamber’s letter read. “Fragmenting these capabilities across multiple entities or privatizing core functions risks weakening the very scientific and operational strengths that industries rely upon.”
The city submitted a five-page letter to the NSF signed by City Manager Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde and Mayor Aaron Brockett. The city’s letter described how Boulder’s success is the product of decades of public and private investment in scientific institutions, which feed entrepreneurship and new talent. NCAR is at the heart of this model, the letter said.
“At a time when global competition in science and technology has never been fiercer, institutions like NCAR are critical,” the letter read. “The city is extremely concerned that the actions proposed by the NSF are short-sighted and will negatively impact Boulder’s community and our economy.”
According to the city’s letter, any actions that dismantle this institution or remove its land from the public domain would call into question the city’s ability to continue to provide water services to this site, as those services were specifically approved by the voters to support NCAR’s public mission. The city has an ordinance, established in 1959, that states that no water services will be provided above 5,750 feet elevation along the foothills, known as the “Blue Line.” In 1961, voters made an exception for NCAR.
“Should that public mission be abandoned, or the property transferred to private interests, the City of Boulder could not presume that voter-sanctioned commitments extend to the new uses of the site and would be compelled to revisit the terms and obligations governing that relationship,” the letter read.
U.S. Representatives Joe Neguse and Jeff Hurd and U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper also led 80 lawmakers in submitting bipartisan public comment in support of NCAR, specifically opposing proposed structural changes to it.
“In sum, we oppose the restructuring and weakening of NCAR, which would erode critical research capacity, disrupt long-standing partnerships, and diminish our ability to understand, anticipate, and respond to extreme weather-related risks,” their letter read.
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