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OK, so today we're diving into some... really
troubling stuff, things that could seriously
mess with our ability to understand and prepare
for like severe weather, you know, environmental
challenges. Yeah. We're going to be looking at
a whole bunch of recent actions that when you
look at them all together, paint a really disturbing
picture, something we're calling Trump Nazi bullshit.
Yeah. Yeah. Nazi bullshit. Absolutely. We're
going to look at weakened protections for migratory
birds. Right. We're going to see the. disappearance
of a super important tool that was designed to
predict future climate risks. And we're going
to look at major upheaval within FEMA, the Federal
Emergency Management Agency, the agency that's
tasked with disaster response. And then on top
of all that, we're also going to look at potential
threats to NUA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration. Our goal today on Meteorology
Matters is to kind of pull out the really important
information from all of this to connect the dots,
so you, the listener, really understand what's
at stake here. All right, so let's unpack this
Trump -Nazi bullshit. Let's start with these
weakened protections for migratory birds. OK.
So what's really interesting here is the Interior
Department, they suspended like 20 legal opinions
that were put in place during the Biden administration.
One of these opinions is really important because
it held companies legally responsible. Their
industrial activities like oil and gas drilling,
wind energy production, even things like mining
and construction, if those things accidentally
led to the deaths of migratory birds. We're talking
about a lot of different species here, from ducks
and cranes to pelicans and owls. And so this
legal term, incidental take, is what they call
it. It refers to the unintentional killing of
these birds. That happens as a result of these
otherwise lawful activities. OK, so what does
the suspension actually mean? I mean, what does
it mean for these birds? What does it mean for
the environment? Well, basically what it means
is that the Fish and Wildlife Service, they might
not take any enforcement action against these
private companies if they unintentionally kill
these birds. And conservationists are really
worried about this because North American bird
populations have already dropped almost 30 %
since 1970. While industrial deaths aren't the
main reason for this decline, these protections
that we had in place, they did help prevent more
deaths. The key takeaway here is weakening these
regulations could really have direct ecological
repercussions, and it might even speed up the
decline of these bird species that are already
vulnerable. It's interesting, you know, the oil
and gas industry? They seem to support this move.
They're saying they want common sense policies
that both protect wildlife and support American
energy dominance. But isn't there kind of a conflict
there? I mean, when they talk about common sense,
aren't they actually putting short -term economic
gains ahead of potential environmental damage?
Yeah, that's a really good point. And the way
the Migratory Bird Treaty Act that goes all the
way back to 1918. Wow. The way they interpret
this incidental take thing has been a big issue
for a long time. And different administrations
have had different views on it. During Trump's
first term, there was this legal opinion that
said accidental killings weren't prohibited,
but then a federal judge actually struck that
down. Then Biden's administration reversed that,
and now Trump, he suspended Biden's reversal.
So it's been this real back and forth. It has
real financial and ecological consequences. You
know, I was reading that if this current view,
the one that's in place now, had been in place
during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, BP might
not have had to pay about $100 million in fines.
And that money was used for bird conservation.
That's a lot of money. That's huge. It really
shows you how much of a financial impact these
changes in regulations can have. It really does.
And it highlights how much these legal interpretations
matter, both for the environment and financially.
Absolutely. OK, so now this weakening of environmental
protection seems to be happening in another area,
too. And it's pretty disturbing. It's what's
going on with FEMA. the Federal Emergency Management
Agency. Yeah, FEMA. This is another part of this
Trump Nazi bullshit we're seeing. This sounds
really bad. I mean, we're hearing that the Homeland
Security Secretary wants to get rid of FEMA entirely.
Yeah. And that the agency is already a mess.
What's going on there? Well, we're hearing from
multiple FEMA officials that disaster assistance
has stalled, grant money has stalled, and they're
even having trouble hiring people. Really? Yeah.
And there was even a meeting with top officials
from FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security.
Okay. They were discussing ways to quickly dismantle
FEMA, like even faster than this FEMA review
council that was recently set up. So the important
thing here isn't just the delays. But what happens
to all that knowledge FEMA has built up over
the years? Yeah. I mean, if they get rid of all
the experienced people, how are they going to
learn from past disasters? Right, exactly. This
sounds incredibly disruptive, especially with
hurricane season starting so soon. Yeah, June
1st. We need FEMA to be ready for that. Yeah,
absolutely. And we're hearing reports that hurricane
preparedness plans are on hold right now. On
hold. Yeah, which is, you know. Really concerning.
Yeah. And to make matters worse, there's this
new hiring process where Secretary Noem's team
has to personally approve renewals for a lot
of FEMA's workforce. Yeah. Like a lot of the
public facing roles, the people who are absolutely
essential for disaster response. Right. You know,
the people who verify damage, who run the recovery
centers and help victims register for aid. Right.
Those are the people on the front line. Exactly.
These core and reservist employees, they make
up something like 74 % of FEMA's workforce. Wow.
So if their renewals are delayed, it'll have
a huge impact on FEMA's ability to respond effectively
to a disaster. Yeah. I mean, if their renewals
are stalled and hurricane season is about to
start, it's like we're purposely making ourselves
more vulnerable to these disasters. Yeah. I mean,
that's a good way to put it. And there are also
these reports that over $100 billion in grant
money and disaster assistance is frozen. What?
Yeah, they're waiting for guidance on some of
Trump's executive orders about immigration funding.
I see. And even though they've reportedly gotten
that guidance recently, it's still not clear
when they're actually going to release that money.
Right. So this is affecting states, local governments,
even nonprofits like fire departments. They all
rely on this money. It's just another example
of how these administrative actions can have
a ripple effect. Yeah. You know, with some pretty
bad real world consequences. And it gets even
worse, right? I mean, I've heard that FEMA employees
are getting fired because they supposedly went
around their bosses to approve grant payments.
Yeah, that's right. That's got to be creating
a lot of fear in the agency. It is. People are
worried about getting in trouble for making payments
that could be misinterpreted. Right. And on top
of all that, there's a hiring freeze. Really?
And there's even a plan to cut down FEMA's workforce
by combining different functions and shifting
some responsibilities to the states. So they're
shrinking FEMA at a time when we really need
them to be strong. Exactly. It's like they're
setting them up to fail. OK. So then there's
this whole thing with the climate change risk
tool that FEMA had. Right. This was supposed
to be a way to understand future threats. Right.
And it seems like it's another piece of this
Trump Nazi bullshit. It is. So FEMA developed
this tool. They called it the Future Risk Index.
And it gave projections of how much money counties
would lose each year because of extreme weather
events. OK. We're talking about things like extreme
heat, coastal flooding, wildfires, hurricanes,
drought, all that. I see. It even had a risk
rating for each county. And it used data. from
all over the federal government, like historical
weather data and climate projections. So this
sounds like it was really valuable for local
governments. Yeah, they could use it to plan
and prepare for the future. So why did they get
rid of it? What does that tell us about how they
view climate change? Well, they deleted the tool
after Trump came back. Really? And before that...
They tried to downplay the whole climate angle.
How so? Well, they changed the name. They got
rid of anything about emission scenarios, stuff
like that. Interesting. And one person who worked
on the project said there was a real culture
of fear at FEMA about anything related to climate
change. Wow. People were afraid of getting in
trouble if they worked on those issues. So they're
basically trying to ignore the fact that the
climate is changing. Yeah, it seems that way
so they got rid of this important tool just because
they didn't like what it was telling them pretty
much But the good news is that the Guardian was
able to recreate the tool using the data that
was still available Okay, so the information
is still out there. Yeah, and what it shows is
that if we don't do something about emissions
these climate Driven events are gonna get a lot
worse, right? By the middle of the century, counties
in New Jersey, New York, and Texas could have
the biggest risks from coastal flooding, while
places like Las Vegas, Dallas, and St. Louis
would be hit hardest by extreme heat. Wow. Wildfires
are gonna be a huge problem in parts of California,
and Florida's gonna be dealing with a lot of
hurricanes. So it sounds like things are gonna
get pretty bad. Yeah, and the financial costs
are gonna be huge, too. Some counties could be
looking at annual losses of $191 million or more.
That's a lot of money. It is. And it really shows
how expensive climate change is going to be.
OK, so now let's talk about the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. NOAA,
OK. They're in charge of weather forecasting
and climate monitoring. And they're also facing
some serious challenges because of this Trump
-Nazi bullshit. So what's going on at NOAA? How
are they being affected by all this? Well, apparently
there's this new rule that says the Commerce
Chief has to personally approve any contracts
or extensions that are over $100 ,000. Wow. It
sounds like a small thing, but it's really messing
things up in NOAA. How so? I mean, what kind
of problems are we seeing and how is it affecting
their work? Well, contractors all over the country
are being affected because there are huge delays
in getting contracts signed off. Oh, wow. Some
contracts have even expired or been canceled
because the review process takes so long. Really?
Yeah, and people are worried that even really
important contracts, ones that have already been
awarded, might get canceled or changed based
on the commerce chief's personal... opinions.
So it's not about what Noah needs, it's about
what this one person thinks. Pretty much yeah.
And how many contracts are we talking about here?
Dozens of them are just sitting there waiting
for approval. Wow. It's a huge bottleneck that's
preventing Noah from doing its job. So this is
affecting the really important work that NOAA
does, like forecasting the weather and monitoring
the climate. Exactly. It's making everything
much less efficient. And it could even be dangerous.
For example, the National Weather Service almost
lost its ability to process data from satellites
and weather stations in real time. What? Yeah,
because they had to wait for a contract extension
for the software that they use in all the forecast
offices around the country. What software is
that? It's called AWIPS. And they managed to
get a last -minute extension, but it really shook
people up. Yeah, but... I mean, they need to
be able to process that data quickly to feed
the weather models and spot storms as they develop.
Right, of course. Any delays could mean that...
people don't get warnings in time. That's scary,
the idea that we might not get warnings about
severe weather because of some bureaucratic mess.
And this isn't the only example. OK. Other NOAA
contracts, like the ones for the people who operate
the weather satellites, have also been stuck
in this approval process. Really? And it's led
to layoffs at some of the contractor companies.
Even basic things like facility services at NOAA
headquarters have been suspended because of contract
issues. Wow, so this is really affecting the
basic operations of NOAA. It really is. And former
NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, he called the
whole thing outrageously inefficient. Boy, yeah.
And he's worried that the people who are reviewing
these contract recommendations are political
appointees who don't actually know anything about
the technical side of things. That's a problem.
Yeah, it makes it seem like NOAA's mission Being
eroded. Yeah, and all of this is affecting the
organizations that Noah funds to do research
Which could mean that our storm track and intensity
forecasts become less accurate Oh and even really
big things like buying new hurricane hunter aircraft
and upgrading IT systems all have to go through
this same approval process now. So it's like
they're trying to slow NOAA down at every turn.
Pretty much, yeah. And I've also heard about
potential staff cuts at NOAA. Yeah, NOAA recently
laid off about 800 probationary employees. Really?
Most of them were rehired and put on administrative
leave, but they're planning more cuts. That doesn't
sound good. No. And experts are worried that
all of this, the contract delays and the staff
cuts is going to make it a lot harder for NOAA
to collect the data we need and issue timely
warnings. Right. Some people are even worried
that the National Weather Service might be privatized
or downsized. That would be a huge change. Yeah.
And some argue that it would upset the balance
between the government, universities and private
companies in the weather enterprise. Yeah, that
makes sense. And what about the hurricane hunter
flights? Yeah, those are really important. They
provide data that's crucial for forecasting hurricanes.
Exactly. And experts are worried that these layoffs
at NOAA could actually ground... some of those
flights. So we could lose valuable data that
helps us predict hurricanes more accurately.
Yeah, it's a real concern. Is anyone pushing
back against this? Yeah, at least one senator
has asked the Commerce Department for more information
about these cuts. So there's definitely some
concern in Congress. So as we can see, this Trump
Nazi bullshit is a really broad problem. Yeah,
it's affecting the environment, our safety during
natural disasters and our ability to understand
and prepare for severe weather. Exactly. They're
weakening protections for migratory birds. They're
basically ignoring climate change by getting
rid of data. And they're undermining FEMA and
NOAA. These are the agencies that are supposed
to be protecting us. It's all connected. So what
does this mean for you, the listener? It means
the natural world could be less protected. It
means we might not be able to respond to disasters
as effectively. And it means we might not understand
the threats from climate change as well. Right.
And all of this could have a real impact on your
life. So what can we do about it? Well, staying
informed is a good first step. OK. You can follow
meteorologist Rob Jones on Instagram, TikTok
and YouTube to learn more about these issues
and stay up to date on what's happening. Right.
He's got a lot of great information and he talks
about these things in more detail on his Meteorology
Matters playlist. So here's something to think
about. What happens when the agencies we rely
on to understand and respond to the world around
us? What happens when those agencies are weakened?
Yeah. It's something we all need to consider
because it affects everyone. It does.