After Senate vote, Trump admin backs off plans to kill ocean monitoring

The Trump administration reversed its decision to dismantle the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) network of ocean monitoring systems, following a vote in the Senate. The federal government had announced the shutdown in May, intending to decommission a network that cost over $350 million to build, without providing an explicit reason. The OOI's role in tracking climate change was widely suspected as a factor, but its data is also crucial for weather forecasting and fisheries management, leading to significant opposition. The New York Times reported that the reversal would be announced later the same day, and Zoe Lofgren, the ranking Democrat on the House Science Committee, provided a statement to Ars indicating the decision had been made. The extent of any damage to the OOI during the intervening month remains a key question.