Send a letter to the U.S. Senate: Fund the Ocean Monitoring System
Humpback whale calf filmed by Rachel Colyer.
In June 2026, the Trump administration began dismantling a $368 million climate monitoring system, pulling critical instruments out of the ocean one by one.¹
For a decade, these sensors have tracked how the ocean absorbs greenhouse gases, how marine heat waves threaten fisheries and how shifting currents drive the flooding that hits coastal communities.¹ The data protects fishing families, watermen and everyone who depends on a stable climate.¹ ²
Designed to operate for 25 years, the system is now being scrapped by the Trump administration in just 15 months.¹ This move will erase more than a decade of data that can never be recovered.²
This isn't belt-tightening. It's part of a deliberate effort to dismantle the science that lets us see climate change happening.² But it can be stopped: Congress has already voted twice to save this exact program.¹ ² With every attempt to undermine science, people who refused to look away have pushed back and won. We're not done.
We’ve already paid for this system, and the data it collects belongs to the public. Sign and send a letter, urging your U.S. senators to protect our climate science and our future.
Sources:
"Trump Administration to Dismantle Ocean Monitoring System," The New York Times, June 1, 2026.
"Democrats Pledge to Fight Trump's Removal of Ocean Monitors," The New York Times, June 2, 2026.
While we have provided a sample letter, your letter is more likely to be read if it's personalized.
Here are a few facts to help you draft original content:
The Trump administration is pulling a $368 million ocean monitoring system out of the water — erasing more than a decade of irreplaceable climate data.
This is data fishing families, watermen, and coastal communities depend on — tracking the currents that shape weather and the commercial catch along the East Coast, and the temperature and oxygen levels the Pacific Northwest fishing industry relies on. If you live in or near a coastal community, say so — naming the local stakes is what makes a call land.
Congress has the power to fix this — and has done it before. Congress has already voted twice to restore this funding after the administration tried to cut it by 80% in 2025 and again in 2026.
The ask to the Senate is simple: Stop the removal and keep the program funded.
