US government shutdown curtails key weather and climate programs
The furloughs hitting government offices across the country are expected to be particularly severe and extensive at the Environmental Protection Agency.
The closure of the federal government will curtail or halt some US climate disaster preparedness and environmental programs — and even potentially delay real estate transactions within the nation's flood zones.
That’s because the major source of flood insurance for millions of homeowners is among the non-essential government services caught up in the shutdown, and new policies can't be initiated while it’s ongoing. The furloughs hitting government offices across the country, meanwhile, are expected to be particularly severe and extensive at the Environmental Protection Agency.
Weather forecasting, on the other hand, will continue uninterrupted because of its value to public safety. That should allow monitoring of hurricane threats and wildfires to continue.
Here is a snapshot of how the shutdown will affect key climate and weather functions, as well as the potential impact from Trump’s threat to fire workers instead of temporary furloughs.
Flood insurance lapses
Funding for the National Flood Insurance Program, which provides nearly $1.3 trillion in flood coverage for some 4.7 million policyholders, has officially lapsed. That will have potentially significant implications for current and prospective homeowners.
During a shutdown, the program is authorized to pay out claims for existing policies for the duration of their one-year term, at least until available funds run out, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. But NFIP can’t issue any new policies or policy renewals.
Doug Quinn, executive director of the American Policy Association, is particularly concerned for people whose policies are set to expire in the coming days and weeks. Due to FEMA updating its approach on how to calculate premiums in recent years, he said, people may face dramatically higher premiums when renewals do eventually come through due to gaps in coverage.
Funding for NFIP has nearly lapsed many times in recent years, with the program getting more than 30 short-term reauthorizations since the end of fiscal year 2017. When funding ran out in June 2010, some 40,000 home sales a month were impacted, according to the Congressional Research Service.
EPA hit hard by furloughs
Nearly 90% of the EPA’s staff are being furloughed.
Unless specified as “exempted or excepted,” EPA staff will stop updating information on the agency’s website. In addition, the EPA will also pause research and publication, and stop issuing guidance, rules and policies.
The EPA has proposed rolling back multiple climate programs and regulations. That includes undoing power plant emissions rules, rescinding the agency’s ability to regulate greenhouse gases and ending a program for big polluters to report their emissions.
In response to a question about whether EPA employees working on those rollbacks would be furloughed, the agency press office said in an email that the “EPA will work to fulfill our statutory obligations, emergency response efforts, and Administration priorities.”
Weather forecasts will go on
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will require nearly half its current workforce to stay on the job since they perform essential public safety services.
If funding lapses, the National Weather Service will continue to provide forecasts and issue safety warnings “as normal,” spokesperson Erica Grow Cei said in an email Monday. That will be the case for two tropical storms which are churning up high surf, but aren’t expected to make landfall in the US.
NOAA also operates a network of laboratories, as well as a fleet of ships and planes that collect data from the skies and at sea. The agency plans to call back many of its research crews and discontinue operations at several labs, with exceptions for work that protects against “significant and imminent threats to human life and property.”
It may take up to 24 days for NOAA’s fleet of ships to return to the nearest port, while flight crews will have four days to return to the agency's operations center in Lakeland, Florida, and begin mothballing aircraft.
At an all-hands meeting for NOAA’s research division Tuesday, agency leaders encouraged staff not to put anything related to the shutdown in writing, including in emails to colleagues and research collaborators, according to people who attended the meeting but were not authorized to talk about it publicly.
Layoff worries spread
The EPA union is very concerned about the threat of layoffs, which the government refers to as a reduction in force.
“At a time when we are facing a global climate crisis and extreme weather events, the EPA workforce couldn’t be more critical,” Justin Chen, president of the agency union American Federation of Government Employees Council 238, said in a statement. The union called on the administration to “immediately retract its threats to furlough and lay off EPA workers whose livelihoods are being held hostage.”
Unlike previous shutdowns, the people familiar said, NOAA staff will be able to access their email accounts after funding lapses to check for notices related to a potential reduction in force.
Trump has threatened to fire “a lot” of workers, though no agencies have explicitly called for terminations in their shutdown plans.
--With assistance from Ari Natter.
