UCAR Sues Trump Over NCAR Dismantling

Is the federal government punishing Boulder for a single election clerk?

The answer, according to new court filings, is yes. And the price tag for that punishment is being paid by scientists, taxpayers, and the state’s entire research infrastructure.

The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder is being dismantled not because its science failed, but because it annoyed the White House. That is the central argument in an amended lawsuit filed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), which manages NCAR on behalf of the government. The suit alleges that the Trump administration’s move to break up the lab is an act of overt political retaliation.

Let’s do the math on what "retaliation" looks like in practice. It starts with Tina Peters, a former Mesa County clerk who was convicted in 2024 for an election-tampering scheme. In May, Governor Jared Polis cut her nine-year sentence in half and ordered her release. That decision was unpopular among many state Democrats, but it happened after a sustained campaign of federal pressure on Colorado. The administration had been slashing clean energy subsidies, cutting welfare benefits, and demanding the state abandon mail-in voting. They also pushed to transfer the U.S. Space Command headquarters out of Colorado Springs.

The timing in the new lawsuit is specific, and it matters. On December 15, the day before Polis agreed to release Peters, President Donald Trump attacked the governor on social media, calling him a "weak and pathetic man." According to the UCAR filing, that same day, Emily Underwood, a Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Policy Strategist, emailed officers at multiple federal agencies — including the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) — to schedule an urgent, same-day call. The goal: coordinate a federal assault on Colorado. Underwood instructed the officers to come prepared to discuss "immediate actions" their agencies could take against the state.

A deluge of retaliatory actions followed.

The next day, December 16, Russell Vought, the OMB Director, announced to the media that the National Science Foundation (NSF) would be breaking up NCAR. Vought, who oversees federal spending priorities, called NCAR "one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country." He stated that vital activities, such as weather research, would be moved out of Boulder. The Colorado Sun reported that the NSF, which oversees NCAR, did not respond to messages seeking comment on the expanded lawsuit. In the past, the agency has declined to comment on the case entirely.

This isn’t just about moving desks or servers. It’s about breaking a unique research ecosystem. NCAR is not a typical government office; it is a hub for atmospheric science that informs weather forecasting, climate modeling, and policy decisions across the entire Western Slope. When Vought says "vital activities" will be moved, he is talking about the operational core of how we understand our local climate.

The UCAR lawsuit argues that this dismantling is illegal and part of a broader pattern of stonewalling. The consortium previously obtained a court order temporarily blocking some of the dismantling, including an effort to give away a key supercomputing lab in Wyoming. The updated filing seeks to make that order permanent. It also alleges the administration is illegally stonewalling record searches and production in the case, making it difficult to fully understand the scope of what is being moved or sold.

For context, Boulder sits in Jefferson County, but its influence stretches across the entire state and beyond. The lab’s work underpins everything from agricultural planning in the San Luis Valley to energy policy in Denver. When federal officials decide that "climate alarmism" is a valid reason to disband a research center, they aren’t just attacking scientists. They are attacking the data infrastructure that tells us what’s actually happening in our atmosphere.

The practical bottom line for locals is simple: your property taxes and federal funding are being used to fund a political grudge match. The science isn’t going away, but the institution that houses it is being pulled apart piece by piece. The lawsuit claims this was done to punish Colorado for a single legal decision. Whether the courts agree or not, the lab in Boulder is no longer safe from Washington’s mood swings.