Benjamin Carr, Ph.D. 👨🏻💻🧬Democratic senators and one Republican, as well as two Democratic House committees, sent letters Monday to #NSF asking it to reverse course on its plan to dismantle #OOI.
#OceanObservatoriesInitiative is a network of more than 900 ocean sensors built at a cost of $386 million. Over last decade it has tracked ocean circulation, marine ecosystems, #climatechange & #extremeweather
https://apnews.com/article/ocean-observatories-initiative-trump-congress-9b306cb05ec3c824f5e034821add6ad2
Lawmakers push to stop Trump dismantling of ocean observatory project
Lawmakers are demanding the National Science Foundation stop dismantling the Ocean Observatories Initiative, a $386 million ocean monitoring network being wound down under President Donald Trump's administration. House Democrats on two committees call the action illegal. Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley says he's drafting legislation to freeze the removal of instruments until a full scientific review is completed. The National Science Foundation directed the removal of most of the system’s instruments from waters off Oregon, Washington, Alaska, North Carolina and Greenland by 2027. Monday’s pushback against the Republican administration’s actions comes as scientists are set to remove instruments from the Pacific and as an El Niño event is predicted to arrive this summer.