Overview:
-'A worst-case scenario is a harmful algal bloom forms and our drinking water managers aren't prepared, and people get poisoned,' expert tells Planet Detroit.
-2 million people lost drinking water for three days due to a Lake Erie algal bloom in 2014.
-A former NOAA administrator says agency's weather information is 'as important as jet fuel' to aviation.
Last week’s cuts to staff at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are raising alarm among Great Lakes advocates, who say critical water quality and weather forecasting efforts will be compromised.
NOAA produces weather and climate data and shares it across the federal government, with National Weather Service employees who create local weather forecasts among the employees laid off, the AP reports.
Layoffs at NOAA could leave residents exposed to harmful algal blooms, interrupt forecasts that shipping companies depend on, and undermine the health of the Great Lakes, according to Mike Shriberg, a University of Michigan professor and longtime advocate for the Great Lakes. Cuts to other agencies, like the Environmental Protection Agency, could compound layoffs at NOAA, he said.
“The scientists at NOAA and EPA are the drivers behind keeping us safe and keeping the lakes healthy,” he said.
15 NOAA staffers in Ann Arbor among 1,300 cut
NOAA’s overall workforce has been reduced by roughly 20%, Shriberg said. This number includes probationary employees and workers who accepted an offer for pay through the end of September if they resigned by Feb. 6. Both moves are part of President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk’s efforts to reduce the federal workforce.
The right-wing Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 plan for the Trump presidency called for privatizing the NWS and dismantling NOAA, calling it “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry.”
Nationally, 1,300 NOAA workers were fired last week, roughly 10% of the agency’s workforce, according to the AP. This includes 15 probationary employees at the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab in Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S. Reps Debbie Dingell (D-Ann Arbor) and Marcy Kaptur (D-Toledo) wrote in a letter.
Probationary employees have generally been at their jobs for less than two years and lack the civil service protections that shield other federal workers. A California federal judge said an earlier mass firing of probationary workers was likely illegal.
Toxic algal bloom monitoring, shipping could be impacted by NOAA layoffs
Disinvestment at NOAA could have disastrous consequences for public health, ecosystems, and the economy, Shriberg said.
“A worst-case scenario is a harmful algal bloom forms and our drinking water managers aren’t prepared, and people get poisoned,” he said.
This scenario threatened the Toledo area in 2014 when a toxic algal bloom formed in western Lake Erie, shutting down the drinking water supply for 2 million people for three days. Michigan’s Saginaw Bay and Wisconsin’s Green Bay are also vulnerable to toxic algal blooms, Shriberg said.
Drinking water systems can struggle to adequately treat water during algal blooms, which can cause vomiting and diarrhea and lead to liver and kidney damage. During Toledo’s 2014 harmful algal bloom, authorities also advised residents not to touch the water.
NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab runs a harmful algal bloom tracker for Lake Erie during bloom season, typically between July and October.
NOAA also helps manage fisheries, which includes working through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to improve fish habitat, manage invasive species, and clean up contaminated sites. This program has provided funding to several projects on the Detroit River.
Although Trump walked back a plan to drastically reduce funding for the GLRI during his first term, Shriberg said cuts to the EPA’s enforcement capabilities and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s invasive species management will undermine restoration.
“Restoration of the Great Lakes is not meaningful if we’re actively degrading our ability to protect the lakes,” he said.
Cuts to these agencies could have economic impacts as well. The Great Lakes fishery has an estimated annual value of $7 billion and supports 75,000 jobs.
A representative for Great Lakes shipping companies also warned that if cuts at NOAA compromise the agency’s ability to monitor ice cover, it would undermine safety.
Eric Pearce, spokesperson for the International Lake Carriers Association, told Bridge the group was still trying to determine which services would be impacted, but that “a degradation of the services that we currently get for navigation safety would be detrimental.”
Iron ore deposits on Lake Superior supplied 90% of the iron ore used in steel production over the last 50 years, with most of this shipped via the Great Lakes, according to the shipping publication WorkBoat.
Cuts to weather forecasting could put communities at risk
Firings at NOAA could impair weather forecasting capabilities that keep communities safe, said Laura Rubin, director of the Healing Our Waters Great Lakes Coalition, a group of advocates pushing for Great Lakes restoration.
NWS issues flooding advisories that can be critical for flood-prone cities like Grand Rapids and Detroit, Rubin said, helping residents seek higher ground and allowing water system managers to anticipate sewage overflows that can impact water quality.
NOAA’s work drives the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Great Lakes water level forecasts and provides forecast data to commercial aircraft, she said.
Rick Spinrad, who served as NOAA administrator until January, told Fast Company the agency’s weather information is “as important as jet fuel to the aviation industry.”
Rubin challenged what she described as the arbitrary nature of the cuts at NOAA.
“These kinds of indiscriminate and really cruel cuts across the board don’t benefit any of us in the Great Lakes,” she said.
More firings could be on the way. The Office of Personnel Management and Office of Management and Budget sent a memo to agency leaders Wednesday advising them on how to conduct layoffs. This listed principles to guide agency reorganizations, including “a significant reduction in the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) positions by eliminating positions that are not required.”