Judge halts federal bid to break up Boulder NCAR supercomputer over retaliation concerns

A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking the NSF from transferring the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center away from UCAR, finding the move arbitrary and likely retaliatory against Colorado in connection with Tina Peters and Gov. Polis. The ruling preserves the status quo while UCAR's lawsuit proceeds and criticizes the agency for offering no performance justification and for limiting public comment. The decision protects essential weather and climate research used by federal agencies and industry, and represents a notable legal setback for the administration's NCAR restructuring effort.