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Monday, Jan. 12, 2026

Did Project 2025 call for closing Boulder’s NCAR research center?

Cassis Tingley, The Colorado Sun
no

Although the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 called for targeting agencies promoting what it termed “climate alarmism,” it did not propose eliminating Boulder’s National Center for Atmospheric Research. 

The nearly 900-page plan, which outlined a conservative government makeover before President Trump’s second term, did propose dismantling the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration and consolidating Department of Energy labs, citing climate alarmism. It also called for a review of the National Science Foundation, which provides most of NCAR’s funding. 

On Dec. 18, Russ Vought, a Trump administration official and chief architect of Project 2025, announced plans to shut down NCAR on social media, claiming it promotes falsehoods about climate change.  

NCAR was established in 1960 to support university research in atmospheric and earth sciences. The lab employs hundreds of scientists and support staff in Boulder and operates branches in Wyoming and Hawaii. 

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