Saving the OOI Act of 2026

This bill stops the National Science Foundation from using federal money to shut down or scale back ocean monitoring equipment called the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) until a full review of the program is done. OOI uses underwater instruments to collect data about the ocean's physical, chemical, geological, and biological conditions, and the National Science Foundation had announced plans to remove equipment from four of its five active ocean monitoring sites. The bill requires the National Science Foundation to get input from scientists and coastal communities before removing any instruments located off the coasts of Oregon, Washington, Alaska, North Carolina, and in the Irminger Sea. The National Science Foundation must also keep all OOI operations running fully, including in areas where equipment has already been taken out, until the review is finished.

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