Updated March 2, 2026 at 11:09 AM PST
BOULDER, Colo. — Just before Christmas, wind gusts up to 100 miles per hour led forecasters to issue a rare extreme wildfire warning in the neighborhoods beneath Boulder's iconic flatiron rock formations.
Here, where the Rocky Mountains rise up from the Great Plains, is one of the best places on the continent to study extreme weather. So climate scientist Daniel Swain says it felt surreal when, just hours after that warning, the White House announced in a tweet that it was planning to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research, or NCAR.
"It was an irony that was not lost on the hundreds of atmospheric scientists who live in these neighborhoods here near NCAR," Swain says, standing on a hiking trail beneath its sprawling campus.
Swain is with the University of California and does research with NCAR. He's not employed by the institution — the largest federal climate research lab in the U.S. — so he feels freer to speak out.
It was not the only irony, says Swain.
"The [local] electrical utility, Xcel, had shut off the electricity to NCAR preemptively to reduce the risk of a wildfire ignition," Swain says.
It's NCAR's research that informs power companies to shut down the lines during extreme weather. In Boulder County, in 2021, the wind-driven Marshall Fire destroyed a thousand homes and killed two people. Last December, thousands of people lost electricity when the power was shut preemptively or because power lines toppled in the erratic winds.
"The weather and climate science that's been done at NCAR has saved countless lives and countless billions of dollars," Swain says.
In the tweet announcing the facilities' closure, the Trump administration said NCAR's forecasting services will be folded into other federal agencies. But its climate work will be going away and the large campus, which opened in 1960, will be closed.
"This facility is one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country," tweeted Russ Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget. "A comprehensive review is underway."
When NPR asked the White House for further comment, an official responded in an email that the center is "a stronghold for left wing climate lunacy."
Democrats say Colorado is a target of Trump's vengeance
Colorado's Democratic leaders say this move is less about global warming and more about what they see as President Trump's retribution campaign against blue states. They point to the administration's announcement that federal authorities are reviewing billions of dollars in federal funding for 14 states and the District of Columbia. What do they all share in common? Trump lost there in 2024.
"When it comes to NCAR, the president's effort at political retribution threatens the health and safety of communities all across the country," said U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet.
Bennet and fellow Colorado Democrat Sen. John Hickenlooper tried unsuccessfully to add an amendment to the Senate appropriations bill last month that would have protected funding for NCAR.
In Colorado, the fight over NCAR comes as the administration is trying to force a coal plant in the northwestern corner of the state to stay open, against the wishes of its owners. The White House is also trying to intervene to stop the state's voter-approved wolf reintroduction from continuing. And the president recently vetoed a bipartisan water bill that would have benefited Colorado farmers.
That drew a rare sharp rebuke on the House floor from Colorado's conservative firebrand, Rep. Lauren Boebert.
"I want to boldly remind my colleagues here today that this project broke ground during the first Trump administration in 2020 due to major investments from the Trump-led Bureau of Reclamation," Boebert said.
Democrats like Michael Bennet say the president is on a vengeance campaign against states that didn't vote for him. And it's often personal. Trump has lately doubled down on unfounded conspiracy theories about Colorado and ramped up his attacks against Gov. Jared Polis. Trump has been pressuring Polis to commute the sentence of a former county clerk and election denier, who was convicted of multiple felonies for granting access to voting machines.
"The governor of Colorado is a weak and pathetic man, who was run by Tren de Aragua, the criminals of Venezuela who took over sections of Colorado," Trump said at an event in December.
Local police have denied any truth to the story.
Trump is slowing the energy transition, but he can't stop it
Colorado is home to more than two dozen federal labs and research institutions. And renewable energy is big business in the state. The industry says it's seeing a bump in demand for solar and batteries, in part because of the recent preemptive power shutoffs during high winds.
"The 20-year success of our company is tied to innovation and the success of our national labs," says Jason Sharpe, CEO of Namaste, a Boulder-based solar company.
Retribution campaign or not, retired federal scientists such as Chuck Kutscher say Trump's attempt to turn back the clock toward fossil fuels will have ramifications far beyond Colorado.
"The energy transition will continue, the concern that I have is we're falling further and further behind China," Kutscher says. "This is really part of a much broader campaign to basically prop up the fossil fuel industry."
Boulder is worried about its environmental and economic stability
Meanwhile, NCAR scientists and historians proudly point out that the Boulder institution was home to the first climate science conference in the world in 1965. Boulder played host because of the pioneering work being done at the then-five-year-old center, they say.
Today, the city feels on edge. Boulder leaders say thousands of federal jobs are in limbo at local labs like NCAR, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Institutes of Standards and Technology, and numerous federal partnerships with the University of Colorado.
Boulder Mayor Aaron Brockett says the timing couldn't have been worse. The political battle over NCAR started just as Boulder was preparing for a possible wildfire during one of the driest winters on record.
It was cruel, Brockett says. The federal government was dismantling the very institutions that help protect cities like his from extreme weather.
Copyright 2026 NPR
