US – Environmentalists and fishermen are protesting a plan by a group of scientists to dump nearly 273,000 liters of sodium hydroxide into Cape Cod Bay to reduce climate change.
Scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Falmouth are seeking a permit to begin a project to dump 30,000 liters of chemicals about 10 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard, which is expected to begin this summer, according to Phys.org. The Woods Hole project, called LOC-NESS, has two main goals.
The first is to understand the potential environmental impacts of increasing the alkalinity of seawater to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. The second is to test and report how much CO2 could be removed by this method if implemented on a large scale.
“While reducing emissions is a key part of reducing human impacts on the Earth’s climate, it has become clear in recent years that emissions reductions need to be supplemented by removing carbon dioxide from the air,” the Woods Hole scientists said.
Environmentalists and fishermen are not in favor of the experiment, which is scheduled to continue next summer on a much larger scale, with about 272,765 liters of chemicals dumped into the waters northeast of Provincetown in the Gulf of Maine.
Friends of the Earth is one of dozens of organizations that have written to the US Environmental Protection Agency to oppose the project. They say ocean alkalinity, the process of adding alkaline compounds to seawater to change the pH and the ocean’s natural ability to absorb carbon, is not in line with the UN Convention on Biological Diversity because of the risks and uncertainties the technology poses to biodiversity and ecosystems.
Sodium hydroxide is an extremely dangerous compound, according to Friends of the Earth campaigner Benjamin Day. It causes chemical burns if it comes into contact with the skin of humans or marine animals. Alkalinity boosting typically uses minerals like limestone and creates a host of other problems. But sodium hydroxide poses more immediate problems. Fishermen in the area also fear the experiment could impact their catch.
Woods Hole scientists say the project will operate within a pH range safe for aquatic life and will adhere to strict environmental monitoring regulations. They will regularly monitor alkalinity using specialized kits, sensors and sampling equipment. The results will provide the first in-country measurements of the safety of the method, including its impact on water chemistry, the marine food web and macroorganisms. The project is essential to understanding the impact of removing carbon dioxide with seawater, said Alison Brizius, director of the Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management Agency.
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