Hundreds of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Weather Service employees were laid off Thursday in the latest round of federal workforce cuts under President Donald Trump’s administration, though how many Coloradans were impacted is still unknown.
As news of the firings broke Thursday afternoon, members of Colorado’s congressional delegation said the cuts could harm the state’s wildfire response and pledged to push back on the firings.
“Gutting NOAA without any plan weakens Colorado’s ability to respond to wildfires or track the Westap worsening drought,” U.S. Sen.
“Science and weather services for Americans is not government waste. Firing the hardworking Coloradans who do this work with no strategy or communication is wrong,” he continued.
The layoffs were first confirmed in a statement from , a California Democrat, and reported by and
Huffman, a member of the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee, condemned the firings as a move that will bring “vital programs to a screeching halt.”
Itap not clear how many employees at the , Pueblo or Grand Junction offices were impacted, and staff who answered the phone Thursday afternoon referred questions to .
In an email, NOAA spokesperson Susan Buchanan said the agency will not discuss internal personnel matters and remains dedicated to its mission.
Cuts at the NOAA appear to be happening in two rounds, one of 500 and one of 800, said Craig McLean, a former NOAA chief scientist who said he got the information from someone with first-hand knowledge. Thatap about 10% of NOAA’s workforce.
The first round of cuts were probationary employees, McLean said.
There are about 375 probationary employees in the National Weather Service — where day-to-day forecasting and hazard warning is done — and employees there so far don’t know of any of them who have been spared the layoff knife yet, though some might be.
There are around 800 NOAA employees in Boulder between federal workers, contractors and the , or CIRES, according to Boulder NOAA spokesperson Theo Stein.
Stein provided the same statement declining to discuss personnel matters at NOAA. A spokesperson for the in Boulder also declined to comment on the layoffs and referred questions to the , which did not respond to an email seeking comment.
A spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, a Boulder Democrat and House Assistant Minority Leader, said his office is working to determine how many Coloradans were impacted Thursday.
“The Trump administration’s mass firing of employees at NOAA, including here in Colorado, will have devastating consequences for our country and weaken our ability to respond to wildfires and natural disasters,” in a statement on Facebook. “It is unacceptable, and we won’t stand for it.”
A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Office of Personnel Management to rescind directives that began mass firings of probationary federal employees across several government agencies, ruling the terminations were likely illegal, .
The Washington Post’s report does not cite NOAA or NWS as among the agencies impacted by the judge’s ruling, but the ruling notes that Congress gave authority to hiring and firing to the agencies themselves, not the OPM.
The American Federation of Government Employees, leading a group of union plaintiffs and advocates, argued the OPM broke the law when it ordered government agencies to fire all probationary employees.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
