ASHEVILLE – After initial rounds of staffing cuts reduced the number of federal employees at the National Centers for Environmental Information earlier this year, more cuts loom for the office that manages climate data critical to disaster preparation and response, according to internal briefing material obtained by the Citizen Times.
NCEI, which is overseen by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has offices in North Carolina, Colorado, Mississippi and Maryland. Headquartered in Asheville, the office manages a massive archive of climate data collected by NOAA scientists, researchers and others.
Since January, according to the briefing material, more than 30% of the NCEI’s federal employees have either left or are scheduled to leave their roles as of May 2, reducing staff size from more than 175 employees to approximately 120…