Representatives of billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency “have been visiting” the Maryland-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, according to congressional Democrats who are urging the Trump administration not to gut the weather-reporting agency.
“Unvetted and unknown DOGE bureaucrats on Musk’s landing team have been visiting NOAA’s headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, which we represent, reportedly with the intent to break up NOAA and move its functions into the Department of the Interior, an idea that you explicitly rejected in your Congressional testimony and would require Congressional approval,” Maryland lawmakers said in a letter Thursday to Commerce Secretary-designate Howard Lutnick.
The letter, obtained by The Baltimore Sun, was led by Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Montgomery County Democrat whose district includes NOAA, and Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee overseeing NOAA. It was signed by all of the Democrats in Maryland’s congressional delegation.
There was no immediate response from White House spokespersons contacted by The Sun.
NOAA is part of the Commerce Department. According to the Congressional Research Service, it is “the principal federal agency tasked with understanding and predicting changes in climate, weather, oceans, and coasts.” It also works to conserve and manage coastal and marine ecosystems and resources.
NOAA’s website includes research on the impact human-induced climate change has on the environment, and charts on the rise in global temperatures. The National Weather Service and National Hurricane Center are part of NOAA.
Since assuming office Jan. 20, President Donald Trump has reversed climate policies of his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, and begun pulling the United States out of an international climate accord called the Paris Agreement. Musk, whose cost-cutting organization is not an official government agency, recently posted on X: “Climate change risk is real, just much slower than alarmists claim.”
Musk’s DOGE team has been taking control of government agencies, proposingbbbbto close some such as the Agency for International Development. The agencies’ potential dismantling raises constitutional issues over the limits of executive branch authority.
Thursday’s letter urged Lutnick, who is awaiting Senate confirmation, to reject gutting NOAA, which it called “the backbone of the nation’s weather-reporting infrastructure.”
“Our businesses can’t pour a foundation, plant crops, or head out to sea without accurate weather information,” the letter said.
Have a news tip? Contact Jeff Barker at jebarker@baltsun.com
