Feds failing in bid to take a supercomputer from a climate research center

• 01In December, the Trump administration announced it would shut down the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado.
• 02The government ordered the University Consortium for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), which manages NCAR on behalf of the National Science Foundation, to prepare to transfer the Wyoming supercomputing center to a different operator.
• 03UCAR sued the government and on Monday won a preliminary injunction blocking the transfer of the supercomputing center facility.
• 04Judge Brooke Jackson ruled that as early as February, before the public comment period closed, government officials told UCAR that the NSF had decided to transfer stewardship of the supercomputing center.
• 05By early March, a government program director told UCAR to 'get this done quickly' and that documentation needed to be handed over 'yesterday,' according to the court decision.
• 06Jackson found that the NSF had reached a final decision on the transfer subject to review under the Administrative Procedures Act, contrary to the government's argument that no decision had been made.
• 07The court concluded the decision violated the Administrative Procedures Act because there was a 'failure to articulate any rationale' for relieving UCAR of its management role.
• 08UCAR demonstrated irreparable harm through unusually high staff attrition and difficulty in replacing employees with rare technical skills.
• 09Internal government documents indicated dissatisfaction with NCAR's pursuit of climate research and hosting of scientific programs to improve minority participation, but the government chose not to use these as arguments in court.

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The Trump administration's decision to shut down the National Center for Atmospheric Research and transfer its Wyoming supercomputing center to another operator was blocked Monday by federal judge Brooke Jackson, who issued a preliminary injunction in favor of UCAR, the consortium managing NCAR. Jackson found the NSF had made a final predetermined decision in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act, noting that government officials signaled the transfer decision in February before the public comment period even closed, and the agency failed to articulate a rationale for the action. UCAR demonstrated it would suffer irreparable harm due to staff attrition caused by uncertainty about the facility's future.