Boulder, September 11 — Two environmental groups are taking the National Science Foundation and the White House Office of Management and Budget to court over records they say have been withheld about plans to dismantle the NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research, the federally funded institution whose modeling and supercomputing work sits behind U.S. weather forecasting, aviation safety, agricultural planning and flood risk assessment.
The Union of Concerned Scientists and the Environmental Defense Fund, represented by the nonprofit environmental law organization Earthjustice, filed the lawsuit after submitting multiple Freedom of Information Act requests tied to the administration’s decision to break up NCAR and eliminate its climate research functions. The groups say they have received no substantive responses to date.
What the records requests sought
The Freedom of Information Act gives the public the right to request access to records from federal agencies. Agencies must disclose what is requested unless the material falls under narrow, specific exemptions — for instance because it is classified to protect national security, or because another law bars disclosure. OMB Director Russell Vought announced in December 2025 that the National Science Foundation would break up NCAR.
According to documents made public in a separate lawsuit brought by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research — the consortium of universities that manages NCAR — OMB and NSF decided to eliminate the center’s climate modeling and research functions. That, the groups argue, would significantly limit understanding of how increasingly extreme weather is putting Americans at risk.
The science at stake
NCAR is described in the filings as critical infrastructure built to integrate observations, modeling, supercomputing and applied research. Its work underpins public safety, economic prosperity and national defense, and its science stands behind some of the biggest advances in understanding of the natural world. Dr. Carlos Martinez, a senior climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said NCAR has provided life-saving weather and climate science for more than six decades.
“Losing NCAR would set back scientific research, with real consequences for people’s lives and livelihoods,” he said. “As a taxpayer-funded public good, NCAR belongs to all of us, and we deserve to know the rationale and deliberations behind any effort to dismantle or restructure it.” Erin Murphy, lead counsel for clean air and energy markets at the Environmental Defense Fund, said the center’s research helps Americans understand climate impacts and stay prepared for dangerous storms, fires and floods.
“The public has the right to know about the Trump administration’s secretive, harmful actions to dismantle essential climate science research at NCAR,” she said. The lawsuit asks for more transparency around the decision. Earthjustice, which describes itself as the premier nonprofit environmental law organization, is handling the case.
It remains pending. What to watch next is whether NSF and OMB respond to the outstanding records requests or contest the suit, and whether the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research’s separate challenge moves the underlying restructuring decision.
