Sullivan refuses to demand that Trump restore Arctic Report Card

A reader who has tried to engage with Sen. Dan Sullivan says his office is replying now with brief notes that are more to the point than the turgid term papers produced in the past.

But waffling and indecision remain the central feature of Sullivan’s communications about anything related to the Trump administration.

Asked by an Alaskan to work to overturn the Trump decision to end the Arctic Report Card, a key document in tracking climate change, Sullivan’s office had nothing of substance to say.

“Your comments regarding the Arctic Report Card, its longstanding role in providing information about Arctic conditions, and your request that NOAA restore support for the report will be included as part of the feedback he receives,” Sullivan’s constituent was informed September 18.

This was a month after NOAA pulled the plug.

The Alaska voter thanked Sullivan’s employee for the reply and said, “I want to know what he plans to do about this!”

Nine days later, Sullivan’s employee said that Sullivan has been “engaging with NOAA on rectifying and fixing this issue.”

So does “engaging” with NOAA mean he will publicly object and identify this as a mistake by Trump?

Not a chance. Sullivan is incapable of doing that.

With the constant ballyhoo about the U.S. being an “Arctic nation” because of Alaska, it’s not asking much for a U.S. senator to recognize Trump’s action as foolish.

Democratic challenger Mary Peltola said that this is no time to be reducing federal research and that NOAA needs more support, not less.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski said the Trump action “reflects a troubling federal trend that I am working to push back against: the undercutting of scientific research at a pivotal time for the Arctic.”

Trump’s hatchet man on the budget, Russell Vought, has sought to minimize the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Vought and other Trumpists have attacked the agency for trying to increase our understanding of climate change.

Vought, whose ex-wife was a Dunleavy publicist in Washington, D.C., claims this is part of fighting the “Marxist takeover” of the government.

“We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected,” Vought said in one speech. “When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains.”

The Trump administration approach to climate change, about which Sullivan has been complicit and coooperative, is to stifle federal research on the topic, hoping no one will notice. Trump has claimed that climate change is a hoax.

As Politico first reported in August, “The move to pull government resources from NOAA’s Arctic Report Card deals a significant blow to efforts to track the health of the Arctic, the region of the planet that has been most heavily affected by rising temperatures from rising greenhouse gases.”

More than 100 researchers from more than a dozen countries have worked on this key research effort that is important for “anyone who needs timely and accurate information about what’s happening in the Arctic environment,” Fairbanks researcher Rick Thoman wrote.

The NOAA website, which the Trumpists have yet to revise, explains the importance of the 2025 edition of the Arctic Report Card and those that preceded it.

“Now in its 20th year, the Arctic Report Card (ARC) 2025 provides a clear view of a region warming far faster than the rest of the planet. Along with reports on the state of the Arctic’s atmosphere, oceans, cryosphere, and tundra, this year’s report highlights major transformations underway—atlantification bringing warmer, saltier waters northward, boreal species expanding northward into Arctic ecosystems, and “rivers rusting” as thawing permafrost mobilizes iron and other metals. Across these changing landscapes, sustained observations and strong research partnerships, including those led by communities and Indigenous organizations, remain essential for understanding and adaptation,” NOAA says.

The American Geophysical Union has taken over the report for now, but that is not a permanent solution.

The Trump effort to cancel Arctic climate change by suppressing a vital report should be reversed.

Your contributions help support independent analysis and political commentary by Alaska reporter and author Dermot Cole. Thank you for reading and for your support. Either click here to use PayPal or send checks to: Dermot Cole, Box 10673, Fairbanks, AK 99710-0673.