After Senate vote, Trump admin backs off plans to kill ocean monitoring
Summary
The Trump administration planned to shut down the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), a network that monitors ocean conditions, but reversed this decision after the Senate voted to block the shutdown. The OOI collects data useful for climate study, weather forecasts, and managing fisheries, and there is concern about damage done during the effort to end it.Key Facts
- The OOI is a federally funded system that has collected ocean data for about ten years.
- It monitors ocean currents, salinity, chemical levels, temperatures, and tectonic activity in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
- The administration announced plans in May to dismantle the OOI without giving a clear reason.
- Many people rely on OOI data for scientific research, weather forecasting, and managing fisheries.
- Critics believe the shutdown was related to the OOI’s role in studying climate change.
- The Senate voted unanimously to block the government from shutting down the system.
- Zoe Lofgren, a Democratic member of the House Science Committee, called the shutdown plan illegal.
- It is unclear how much of the system has been dismantled during the period when the shutdown was planned.
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