Rick Spinrad, the former administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said the workforce layoffs at the agency have been difficult to watch.
“For me, it’s very much like seeing some of my family members hurt, to see them put under these kinds of pressures, in some cases, terminated,” he said. “I don’t think I’m unique in that regard.”
He said the cuts of probationary workers last week and the potential loss of more workers in the future will be a big setback to progress made at the agency when it comes to weather forecasts, nautical charts, space weather predictions and the safety of commercial seafood.
While some effects of the cuts will be seen down the road, Spinrad said others will be felt in the near future.
“I expect we’re going to see consequences immediately, with respect to things like the availability of weather forecasts in certain parts of the country, the quality of forecasts,” Spinrad said.
Spinrad served as the NOAA administrator under former President Joe Biden, leaving the post on Jan. 20, and he said the agency was light on resources even before the recent layoffs.
“We didn’t have all the staff that we needed, and now they’ve been cut even more,” Spinrad said. “It’s really concerning, to say the least.”
The National Weather Service falls under NOAA, and Spinrad said the importance of that agency can be seen in the forecasting it provides to the public.
“We just had a couple of bad storms here in the D.C. area, the quality of the forecast was superb, and that’s because of the time and effort that’s been put into improving forecasts,” he said.
Another direct impact on the administration in the D.C. region was seen during the response to the deadly collapse of Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore last March. He said NOAA played an important part in reopening the port at Baltimore Harbor only months after the collapse.
“You’ve got to resurvey the whole harbor,” he said. “You’ve got to find out where the new sea lanes are. You’ve got to figure out what’s the appropriate depth limits for what size vessels and NOAA resurveyed, recertified, if you will, the sea lanes so the Baltimore port could be reopened.”
Spinrad said food safety is also at risk, with cuts made to NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, which conducts surveys on fish populations and establishes regulations.
“(The fishing industry) is a $300 billion industry annually with 2.3 million jobs across the country,” Spinrad said. “Obviously, Chesapeake Bay, the Virginia capes, the whole coastline in this area — fishing is a major contributor to that economy.”
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