Trump’s DOGE Cuts Are Texas-Sized Disaster

President Donald Trump s commitment to resource dominance would seem to be good news for the Texas market system But in the administration s reversal of environmental policies including via the chaos of DOGE trashing federal agencies it is easy to overlook changes that are of particular importance for the state Federal materials for managing climate-augmented weather disasters are being wiped out and crucial information about future risks is being destroyed or degraded Meanwhile state leaders stand by while denying the seriousness of setting change as a driver of these events and the threat this poses to the state economic activity It is not exactly urgent news that Texas is vulnerable to extreme weather with current hurricanes and wildfires fresh in mind nor is the well-documented effect of a warming surroundings in magnifying severe weather Just look to the growing count of billion-dollar natural disasters severe storms drought flood wildfires severe cold For example from to Texas suffered of these costly events with Florida second at By upending the federal status quo around mishap relief states like Texas could be left without a paddle The largest federal operation directed to the threat is FEMA accident aid followed by companion assistance for damaged homes from the Department of Housing and Urban Growth and help for impacted businesses from the Small Business Administration A breakout by state of aid from these federal agencies since shows that Texas and Florida each receiving about billion account for almost a third of the -state total DOGE already cut roughly percent of FEMA s staff and moved to freeze its funds And Donald Trump has repeatedly signaled his interest in shifting accident relief responsibilities entirely to the states On June he made that threat more concrete by saying that his administration would start phasing out FEMA after this current hurricane season ends in November We want to wean off of FEMA and we want to bring it down to the state level Trump commented A governor should be able to handle it and frankly if they can t handle it the aftermath then maybe they shouldn t be governor That of lesson would be bad news for Texas where Republican leaders routinely play politics with tragedy response and relief Further warming in response to continuing greenhouse emissions ensures that the cost of weather change-augmented storms floods and wildfires will only increase with Texans prominent among the casualties And an upending of tragedy aid is far from the only threat Texas faces For example the state seeks and often receives federal patronage for financing in critical flood prevention projects The more intense rainfall that comes with warming warmer air holds more water will pose a growing challenge for the management of Texas rivers But the biggest foreseen expense is coastal protection Adding to a history of death and destruction seared into state memory by images of Galveston in and sea levels will continue to rise along with ocean temperatures That means hurricanes will be more intense and storm surges more devastating The state has developed specific ambitious plans for its vulnerable coastline the largest part prominent stake being the Galveston Bay Storm Surge Barrier System better known as the Ike Dike It would be carried out by the U S Corps of Engineers in coordination with the Gulf Coast Protection District GCPD which the state created in to implement coastal resilience projects The price tag of that project is huge In the Corps estimated that it would cost billion which would make it the agency s most of expensive project ever But only two years later that estimate had risen to billion and whenever the project is ultimately funded the cost will surely be higher Who would pay for it The project was authorized under the federal Water Materials Growth Act allowing initial implementation to begin The next step was a agreement to begin project design work with the feds picking up percent of the tab and GCPD covering the remainder That s likely to be the cost-sharing arrangement for the actual construction of the project should it be funded Appropriation of the federal portion would however take time Even after design and environmental review the project would have to survive the federal budget process Meanwhile the Corps is also being targeted by DOGE for cuts in staff and facilities and even to current projects and the budget for civil works is a juicy target in efforts to further slash federal executive spending Moreover concern with the cuts is not just about money The administration is trying to kill every plan that pops up in a search for the word surroundings In the process the heart is being cut out of agencies that produce information that the state requirements to manage its environmental threats Consider just two examples severe storm prediction and coastal surge The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA the country s central weather hub provides the analysis undergirding forecasts of wildfires severe storms and heavy rain events and its observation systems high-altitude balloons aircraft satellites ocean buoys provide the records required to patronage this activity When you watch TV weather or get a fire warning it is largely a NOAA product Consistent with its aversion to talk of setting change the Administration s program guide Project recommends dismantling NOAA Those functions not eliminated would be scattered among other agencies privatized or sent to the states This has not happened yet but DOGE has fired various of NOAA s scientists and there are suggestions its Oklahoma Storm Prediction Center will be closed Also crucial statistics gathering systems are at peril Federal ability to warn the inhabitants is being degraded and it is a residents arrangement no state can replace The second example of likely loss of key information concerns the science underlying the design of the proposed Galveston Bay protection The assumed sea level rise and storm wave loadings are naturally based on Corps guidance developed in the years leading up to completion of the investigation But understanding of these coastal threats is not fixed it is improving with ongoing research and analysis that take account of a changing atmosphere The main uncertainty in sea level rise over the century comes from the contribution of melting Antarctic glaciers and there is hope that ongoing scientific work will clarify their behavior with continued warming Similarly the analysis of tropical storms importantly the influence of rising ocean temperature and other factors on intensity and future tracks is also the target of productive scientific work also heavily in NOAA The state has an interest in ensuring that the design of all context resilience projects are based on the latest science It is a particularly significant concern for a massive long-term project like the Ike Dike and other components of the larger coastal protection proposal The slashing of the scientific work in NOAA and other agencies raises the peril of building a project that proves inadequate to the changing conditions or perhaps wastefully overbuilt Texas leaders can and should be expected to argue for maintenance or resuscitation of these federal efforts in mishap aid assistance with flood protection and provision of needed evidence and analysis Unfortunately though a potent justification for saving this activity is the increasing effects of setting change Texas elected state leaders commonly resist naming it They ve repeatedly resisted enacting law that would require all state agencies to not just acknowledge but plan for context change-fueled disasters and other risks In fact the only law enacted in the past years that contains the phrase state change is one passed in that prohibits cities from enacting their own surroundings mitigation protocols per the Dallas Morning News No surprise here to acknowledge weather change would mean validating policies to control greenhouse emissions I got my first lesson in pressure years ago when my UT roommate editor of The Daily Texan took the paper s editorial position against a fossil interest of that day The response rose from a summonses of the editor to the president s office to a slap-down of the paper by the UT Board of Regents Now the reticence is due not just to state interests but also to prospects of President Trump s wrath So we can expect that even those who fully understand the state s peril from environment change will take the guidance of the governor in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and dance a little sidestep seeking help with severe weather but not admitting why it is needed There is a cost to Texas life and property in this denial The state becomes less effective in the coalition of states that will try to save this federal work increasing the feasible failure to bring the needed information and best intelligence to the state s response to the damage that is 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