They barely had funding to do maintenance. There's no money to build a whole new one. The NSF is under contract to return the site to its original natural state

They barely had funding to do maintenance. There's no money to build a whole new one. The NSF is under contract to return the site to its original natural state. (I can't find a recent source for this but it's mentioned in https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/search-for-alien-life-ignites-battle-over-giant-telescope/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/search-for-alien-... )