US Won't Scrap Ocean Monitoring System After All

A major ocean data network just got an eleventh-hour reprieve. Facing rare, unanimous resistance in the Senate, the Trump administration has shelved a plan to tear down a $368 million system of buoys, sensors, and cables that tracks everything from coastal flooding to marine heat waves, reports the New York Times. The National Science Foundation, which had been preparing to haul instruments out of waters off Oregon, Washington, Alaska, North Carolina, and the North Atlantic, now says it will pause and convene experts to decide its next steps, according to documents reviewed by the Times.

Lawmakers in both parties argued that dismantling the Ocean Observatories Initiative could violate spending laws, waste hundreds of millions already invested, and jeopardize coastal safety, reports the Guardian. The Senate moved to block the effort by unanimous consent, with sponsors Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, and Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, calling the network vital for tracking El Nino and improving hurricane and tsunami forecasts. It also faced an uncertain path in the House. The NSF had pitched the shutdown as a way to save $48 million in annual operating costs, though critics said that's just a sliver of the federal budget and well worth the price.