The National Science Foundation runs a network of ocean-monitoring instruments off the coasts of Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and North Carolina, and in the Irminger Sea near Greenland, called the Ocean Observatories Initiative. This bill would stop the agency from using federal money to shut down or scale back any of those instruments until it completes a full review of the program, done with input from scientists and coastal communities. In the meantime, NSF would have to keep the entire network running, including monitoring in any states where instruments had already been taken offline. Coastal researchers, universities, and communities that rely on this ocean data for weather, fishing, and climate research are the ones affected by whether the network keeps operating.
Congressional Summary
Saving the OOI Act of 2026This bill prohibits the National Science Foundation (NSF) from using federal funds to decommission or descope Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) instruments until a thorough review of OOI is completed.OOI measures and observes ocean conditions using a series of in-water instruments that gather physical, chemical, geological, and biological data. On May 21, 2026, NSF announced that it would remove all in-water infrastructure from four of the five active OOI arrays.Under the bill, NSF must conduct a thorough review of OOI with engagement from the scientific and coastal communities before decommissioning or descoping specified OOI instruments. This includes OOI instruments anchored off of Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and North Carolina, as well as instruments anchored in the Irminger Sea. NSF is required to maintain full and consistent OOI operations, including monitoring in states where instruments have already been decommissioned, until the review is complete.
Legislative Subjects
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- Senate
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Passed Senate
- Action Date
- 2026-06-17
- Date Added
- 2026-07-15
- Source
- Congress.gov →
Like reading a bill in plain English?
We're building an app that does this for every bill in Congress and lets you tell your reps how you want them to vote. We're a small team getting ready to launch, and we're trying to show investors that real people want this. Be one of them. Help us get it built. Leave your email and we'll tell you the moment the app is ready.