Larsen cheers Trump administration backing off plan to end key ocean monitoring initiative

||| FROM THE OFFICE OF U.S. REP. RICK LARSEN |||

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) released the following statement:

“Monitoring our oceans is crucial to protect Northwest Washington’s coastlines, marine ecosystems and maritime economy.

“The Trump administration’s attempt to remove hundreds of underwater instruments that help scientists understand ecosystem threats and natural disasters like El Niño was shortsighted and dangerous. I am glad that the Administration is reversing course and will redeploy the sensors that it already removed from oceans off the coast of Washington state.

“I will continue fighting to protect marine habitats, prevent climate change and invest in clean energy and sustainable infrastructure.”

Today, the Trump administration announced it will abandon its plan to dismantle the Ocean Observatories Initiative, a $368 million ocean monitoring system critical to gathering data on marine ecosystems and the effects of climate change.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) stated in May that it would begin removing underwater instruments in June that are anchored to the sea floor off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, Alaska and North Carolina. NSF announced today that it is developing plans to redeploy buoys, sensors and other instruments that were removed this month off the coasts of Washington and Oregon.

Larsen Continues to Champion Northwest Washington’s Environment

Protecting Washington state’s environment and addressing  climate change are top priorities for Rep. Larsen. Larsen’s bill to reauthorize the Northwest Straits Commission and protect marine habitats in Northwest Washington recently passed the House of Representatives. The Northwest Straits Commission is a community-led effort to restore marine habitats in the Northwest Straits region and address local threats to marine environments with projects such as restoring shellfish populations, protecting vulnerable ecosystems, and promoting growth for native water and shore-based plants.

Rep. Larsen is an advocate for ocean research funding, including for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS). The Pacific Northwest’s regional IOOS, the Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems (NANOOS), produces and compiles high-quality ocean and coastal data to inform scientists and governments about how climate change and natural disasters are impacting oceans and marine environments.

As the lead Democrat on the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, Rep. Larsen secured key wins for Northwest Washington’s marine infrastructure in the Water Resources Development Act of 2024 (WRDA 2024), bipartisan legislation that secures critical investments in ports, inland waterways, flood management systems, ecosystems and other water resources infrastructure. In WRDA 2024, Larsen secured $242 million for Western Washington counties to use for environmentally sustainable flood control, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure across Northwest Washington.

Rep. Larsen also secured funding for Northwest Washington culvert projects in his BUILD America 250 Act, which passed out of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee last month on a 62-2 vote. Larsen’s bill would preserve the National Culvert Program, which supports salmon restoration and environmental protection efforts in Northwest Washington. The BUILD America 250 Act would also streamlines permitting reviews to make environmentally friendly projects easier to build, require states to invest $1 billion in alternative fuel infrastructure and maintain $500 million in annual funding for the Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-saving Transportation Program (PROTECT) grants to make surface transportation more resilient to the changing climate.

In September 2025, Rep. Larsen joined 153 of his House Democratic colleagues to send a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) opposing Administrator Lee Zeldin’s proposed rollbacks of EPA’s landmark Endangerment Finding and vehicle emissions standards and signed a letter that raised concerns with the EPA’s proposal to eliminate federal greenhouse gas pollution standards for light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicles. Rep. Larsen also joined six other members of Washington’s Congressional Delegation in writing a letter to Administrator Zeldin about how his proposal to eliminate the 2009 Endangerment Finding would exacerbate wildfires, floods and other extreme weather events in Washington state.

In June 2025, Rep, Larsen introduced the bipartisan Enhancing Science, Treatment, and Upkeep of America’s Resilient and Important Estuarine Systems (ESTUARIES Act) to reauthorize the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Estuary Program (NEP) through 2031. The NEP is a non-regulatory program that supports locally driven efforts to restore and protect the environmental and economic health of 28 estuaries of national significance, where rivers meet the sea, including Puget Sound. The legislation passed the House in December 2025.