Source: The Atlantic
The critical national weather service that millions of Americans rely on could end under a potential Trump presidency. The National Weather Service provides weather forecasts, hurricane warnings, issue alerts, heat advisories and predictions that are a freely accessible government amenity.
According to The Atlantic, Project 2025 — a 900-page book of regressive policy proposals published by the conservative group the Heritage Foundation — states that an incoming Republican administration will erase the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, under which The National Weather Service operates.
Should Trump take the presidency, the plan recommends that the National Weather Service “should fully commercialize its forecasting operations.” Effectively privatizing weather data could hinder everyday Americans’ access to weather data and how the U.S. accesses other countries’ weather models.
“It’s real bad,” David Willett, senior vice president of communications for the environmental advocacy group the League of Environmental Voters, told Mother Jones. “This is a real plan, by people who have been in the government, for how to systematically take over, take away rights and freedoms, and dismantle the government in service of private industry.”
According to experts and advocates, these regressive climate proposals would wreak havoc on the nation’s ability to prepare for and respond to extreme weather events, including hurricanes, tornadoes, and flooding.
This plan is just one proposal contained in Project 2025, which is meant to prepare for an entire federal government takeover should Trump achieve another term.
Project 2025 also contains plans to eliminate student loan debt relief, stop free preschool programs, destroy the National Monument system, and replace federal employees with Trump loyalists, among many other extremist measures.
