\n<\/p>\n
\u201cUndercutting our science community like this is only going to hurt Americans,\u201d Balch said.<\/p>\n
Craig Clements<\/a>, chair of the Department of Meteorology and Climate Science at San Jos\u00e9 State University, said that the next generation of scientists would lose vital training opportunities if the research center were dismantled.<\/p>\n \u201cThey get to have hands-on experience with state of the art research, aircraft, facilities and researchers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Clements said he was in shock that this was even being proposed. \u201cHow are they going to do this? Is this really going to happen?\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to devastate atmospheric science research worldwide \u2014\u00a0not just California, not just the U.S. It is the leading atmospheric science institution in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s office called this research \u201clife saving\u201d in a news release Friday.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately for the American people, Trump\u2019s Budget Director, Russell Vought \u2014 also known as\u00a0 \u201ca right-wing absolute zealot\u201d<\/a>\u2014 is targeting the Center to line the pockets of Big Oil,\u201d the statement said. \u201cDespite what the Trump administration hopes, extreme weather does not take the day off.\u201d<\/p>\n Crowfoot told CalMatters that the move is just one more example of the Trump administration attacking the science that keeps Californians safe.<\/p>\n \u201cOne that had us scrambling this fall was cuts to the federal funding for the California Nevada River Forecast Center<\/a>,\u201d Crowfoot said. California\u2019s emergency storm and flood efforts<\/a> rely on the forecast center to guide decisions such as where to pre-position emergency rescue teams.<\/p>\n Crowfoot said there were such large personnel cuts that the state has been racing to fill the gaps as the rainy season takes hold. Gutting the atmospheric research center, he said, will force a similar scramble as universities and others try to maintain data, tools and expertise in its absence.<\/p>\n \u201cFederal data and science and information is critical. What we\u2019re experiencing across the country is this alarming adjustment to the loss of this information \u2014 and it\u2019s happening on a weekly basis,\u201d Crowfoot said.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n This article was originally published on CalMatters<\/a> and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives<\/a> license.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n