Take Action: Urge Congress to Fully Fund the EPA and NOAA
As United Methodists, our Social Principles call us to protect the sustainability of the environment and the safety of the public.
EPA and NOAA, widely trusted scientific organizations that employ high quality science to protect the public from environmental hazards, have been threatened with cuts to staffing and funding, threatening the safety and sustainability of the environment and the public.
“Rather than treating creation as if it were placed here solely for humanity’s use and consumption, we are called to practice responsible stewardship and to live in right relationship with the Creator and with the whole of God’s creation” (United Methodist Social Principles, Community of All Creation, Preface)
Since the Trump Administration took office in January, we have heard many troubling announcements about changes to the federal workforce. As United Methodists who feel called to work for a healthy environment and safe climate, perhaps the most troubling news has been the reduction of workforce and suspension of funding for research at two government agencies: the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The EPA oversees regulations, enforcement of the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act, enforcement against industrial pollution of land and waterways; and regulates and monitors greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. Many of the proposed cuts to that agency would come from the Office of Research and Development, which ensures scientific accuracy for agency work. The proposed 65% reduction in budget would result in the loss of more than one-thousand scientific research jobs. This would have a devastating impact on the agency’s mission to protect public health and the environment.
NOAA is the agency responsible for weather forecasts, severe and hazardous weather warnings for things like tornadoes and hurricanes; and maintaining our weather observation infrastructure, which includes satellites, ground monitoring systems, and weather balloon launches that provide data upon which weather forecasts models depend. Cuts are also proposed at NOAA’s research arm, whose mission is to protect the public through better understanding of severe and hazardous weather. The services NOAA provides cannot be provided efficiently and equitably by the private sector.
Tell your Members of Congress that you support fully funding and staffing NOAA and EPA in the 2025 budget.
