S. 22, The Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2008 passed the Senate this afternoon 73-21. The package includes ocean exploration, NOAA undersea research, ocean and coastal mapping integration, the integrated coastal and ocean observation system*, federal ocean acidification research and monitoring, and coastal and estuarine land conservation, and lots more. Once the House acts, the final version may get sent to the next President...
In other words, Obama's first law might be huge for ocean science!
* hat tip to Senator Snowe for all her work on ocean observing
