DOE’s FY18 Budget Cut by Trump Administration

DOE’s FY18 Budget Cut by Trump Administration

On May 23, 2017, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued President Trump’s proposal for the Budget of the U.S. Government for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018. The budget proposes significant cuts in funding for climate and other environmental research at various federal agencies. For example, the Department of Energy’s Earth and Environmental Sciences program, which plays a leading role in federal climate change research, would see its funding cut by fifty-nine percent (compared to FY2017 levels). This will have major impacts on climate change research, both within and outside the Department. According to a 2018 report, it will result in the loss of past investments, for example, in facilities used to study “earth system processes in the atmosphere (the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Research Facility, or ARM).” As noted in the report:

“ARM has established fixed sites for long-term measurements in Alaska, Oklahoma, and the Azores. It also has three mobile facilities that can deploy to other sites and collect focused measurements. Under the FY 2018 proposed budget, ARM will have to limit its observations in the Azores and put two of its three mobile facilities “in reserve,” retaining only one mobile facility for targeted observations in the Southern Ocean.”