Overview
- A federal judge in Denver issued a preliminary injunction on Monday blocking the National Science Foundation from transferring stewardship of the NCAR‑Wyoming Supercomputing Center to the University of Wyoming while UCAR’s lawsuit proceeds.
- The court found the NSF decision was likely “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law” under the Administrative Procedure Act because the agency gave no adequate explanation and failed to follow its public‑feedback process.
- The ruling accepted UCAR’s evidence that the transfer announcement has produced a significant “brain drain,” with specialized engineers and scientists leaving and the risk of facility closures or mass layoffs that could disrupt operations.
- Judge R. Brooke Jackson tied the timing of the NSF action to political motives, noting a sequence in which the President publicly criticized Colorado and OMB announced the NCAR changes the next day, and the NSF declined to comment on the injunction.
- The injunction keeps NCAR functioning for now but the litigation can proceed to trial and possible appeals, and the dispute raises broader stakes because the supercomputer supports weather and climate modeling used by the military, federal agencies, and private partners.