I am writing as a concerned constituent and a supporter of American scientific leadership to urge your immediate intervention regarding the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) sudden directive to "descope" the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI). This decision effectively dismantles a $368 million cutting-edge network of deep-sea sensors that provides critical, real-time data on climate change, weather patterns, and marine ecosystems.
The NSF’s phased extraction of in-water infrastructure over the next 15 months will pull vital monitoring hardware from the waters of Oregon, Washington, Alaska, North Carolina, and the sub-polar Irminger Sea. When OOI launched in 2016, it was explicitly designed as a 25-to-30-year project. Pulling these instruments out after only 10 years creates an irreparable gap in long-term baseline data right as scientists face unprecedented ocean warming.
While the administration claims this is a shift toward a "nimbler approach," the reality is that removing these arrays leaves our country blind to subsurface marine heatwaves, collapsing ocean currents (like the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation), and severe coastal risks. Congress has successfully bi-passed and restored proposed cuts to this project in past budget cycles. I ask that you do so again.
I strongly urge you to use your oversight authority to:
1 Demand an immediate freeze on the recovery and dismantling of OOI equipment, particularly at the Endurance Array where removals are already underway.
2 Restore and secure full operational funding for all five OOI arrays in upcoming appropriations.
3 Hold hearings regarding the sudden restructuring of independent scientific oversight at the NSF.
Dismantling this infrastructure pushes the United States into a back seat in global scientific leadership and directly threatens our capacity to predict environmental changes. Thank you for your time, your leadership, and your prompt attention to protecting American climate science.
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