Federal Budget Cuts Threaten Green Bank Radio Observatory

A prominent Pocahontas County fixture since 1957, the Green Bank Observatory is facing federal budget cuts and may have to close. 

Deana White is the director of the West Virginia Alliance for STEM, and a Green Bank advocate. She said the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) proposed Fiscal Year 2026 budget includes cutting the Green Bank Observatory’s funding from approximately $10 million to $3 million, and also recommends decommissioning the facility – which she said would effectively close the doors.

“That usually means shutting it down,” White said. “Unless something else can be done. That’s a drastic cut.  The NSF, they’re facing cuts as well, so they’ve made some tough choices. But we can’t do this for the Green Bank Observatory. It’s too important to our state for so many reasons.”

White said Green Bank still contributes to groundbreaking discoveries and  more.

“They just discovered a unique chemical in space that leads to the discovery of life,” she said. “It’s contributing to gravitational wave research, which is groundbreaking, but most importantly, it’s an inspiration to our teachers and our students across the state, from kindergarten up through college.”

White added that West Virginia nets a substantial Green Bank economic benefit. 

“It supplies over 100 jobs in an extremely rural setting, and it contributes about $30 million dollars to the local and state economy,” she said.

On Oc. 17, 1957 the groundbreaking and dedication of the Green Bank site took place.  Within one year the first radio telescope on site was completed, the 85-foot Tatel Telescope. Over the course of the next 10 years a total of five radio telescopes were placed on site, ranging in size from 40 feet to 300 feet in diameter. Over the past 60 years a number of new radio telescopes have been built at the site, including the 100-meter Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope.

White said Green Bank was the first to have searched for extraterrestrial intelligence under Dr. Frank Drake. 

“They’re still looking for ET,” she said.