Little more than a month ago, Boulder scientists were publicly counseling a cautious, wait-and-see approach to feared budget cuts by the administration of a president who has called climate change a hoax perpetrated by China.

They waited, and late last week, they saw.

A report appeared Friday from the Washington Post, which had obtained a four-page memo outlining a 17 percent budget cut for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which the newspaper called one of the nation’s premier agencies for climate science.

One critic of those proposed cuts pointed out that the $990 million savings would fund the Department of Defense for 12 hours.

The Post’s story said Trump’s budget promised steep cuts to NOAA research funding and satellite programs, and would also wipe out funding for an assortment of smaller programs such as external research, coastal management, estuary reserves and “coastal resilience,” the aim of which is to strengthen the ability of low-lying coastal areas to survive major storms and higher seas.

Read the full story at Daily Camera.