University Corporation for Atmospheric Research v. National Science Foundation

UCAR filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to enjoin the defendants from divesting UCAR or NCAR of rights, resources, or responsibilities related to NWSC.

University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), the nonprofit research consortium that manages the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the District of Colorado challenging actions taken by the National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and individual officials that UCAR alleged are intended to dismantle NCAR, which the complaint described as “a cornerstone of the country’s atmospheric and Earth systems research infrastructure.” The complaint alleged that UCAR and NCAR, headquartered in Boulder, were “collateral damage” in “the federal government’s campaign of retribution” against the State of Colorado for refusing to relinquish its sovereign authority over regulating elections and administering and enforcing its criminal code. The complaint alleged retaliatory measures that included divesting UCAR of its stewardship of the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center (NWSC), termination of a cooperative agreement between NOAA and UCAR to fund climate adaptation and mitigation research, saddling UCAR and NCAR with “disparate and undue reporting requirements,” imposition of gag orders on UCAR and NCAR officials, and plotting steps with private entities “to strip UCAR and NCAR of their resources, rights, and responsibilities.” The complaint asserted that the defendants’ actions violated the Administrative Procedure Act and the Constitution. UCAR alleged that the defendants’ actions posed “a direct threat to America’s national, economic, and public-health security and risks derailing the United States’ global leadership in atmospheric research, weather forecasting, and supercomputing.”