As June got underway, Trump administration officials announced plans to dismantle a $368 million deep-sea observation system that, as The New York Times reported, “was put in place a decade ago to monitor coastal environments, marine ecosystems and powerful currents that affect the global climate.”
There was no real point to the move. The money had already been spent, and the deep-sea instruments were already anchored. But members of Team Trump decided they simply did not want the information the observation system offered, so they said they’d destroy it.
At least that was the original idea. Last week, a bipartisan group of senators took steps to block the administration from dismantling the system, insisting the move would be both illegal and damaging to coastal communities. One day later, Team Trump announced the observation system would remain in place after all.
Below, ack Barth, professor of oceanography at Oregon State University, talks about the importance of the ocean observatory network, including time and cost.