C
Captain Compassion
Guest
U.S. blasts plan to dump iron dust in sea to absorb CO2
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=8a0a5d45-e90c-460f-9462-ae1509594cdc
Proposal to boost plant life not a proven tactic to combat global
warming, officials say
Kelly Patterson, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Tuesday, June 19, 2007
A clash with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is threatening
to scuttle a U.S. company's plan to "seed" the Pacific Ocean with iron
dust to offset global warming.
Planktos Inc., which has offices in Vancouver and San Francisco, wants
to set sail this month from Florida to dump more than 45 tonnes of
iron dust into the sea near the Galapagos Islands.
The iron nutrients would stimulate the growth of phytoplankton, which
would then absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide -- an experimental
process Planktos compares to reforestation.
Planktos Inc. says phytoplankton, seen in bright blue and green, would
be increased if iron dust was dumped in the ocean, boosting carbon
dioxide absorption.
A for-profit "ecorestoration" company, Planktos plans to sell carbon
credits from this type of project to firms like Vancouver's Wedgewood
Hotel and Spa, which has agreed to buy 5,000 tonnes of carbon credits.
The firm launched its two-year "Voyage of Recovery" program in March,
launching a public relations campaign in Washington, D.C., to promote
its "green message of hope."
But in May, the EPA warned the firm it may need a permit under the
U.S. Ocean Dumping Act if it uses its U.S.-registered vessel, the
Weatherbird II.
Planktos CEO Russ George says U.S. regulations should apply only when
a firm dumps levels of a substance that are one per cent or more above
the level considered toxic.
His firm's plan would fall "roughly a billion times below regulatory
limit," he said.
If the EPA stands in his way, he says he will use a
flag-of-convenience ship.
Planktos' controversial plan, which has drawn fire from environmental
groups and many scientists, will be on the agenda of this week's
meeting of the International Maritime Organization in Spain, which
sets international shipping standards for matters such as ocean
dumping.
In a submission to the group, of which Canada and the U.S. are
members, the U.S. government urges nations to scrutinize any such
project, adding "Planktos was not able to provide the EPA with any
information ... (on) the potential environmental impacts" of the plan.
The U.S. cites the possibility that the project would lead to toxic
algae blooms, and that the decomposing plankton masses would release
other greenhouse gases or choke off the oxygen supply in the deep
ocean.
Nonsense, says Mr. George.
"The world has spent the last 20 years and more than $100 million"
developing the science behind the plan, he says.
"These questions have all been addressed," he says, blaming the EPA's
reservations on "fear mongering" by environmental groups, such as the
Ottawa-based ETC Group, which discovered the U.S. government document
this week.
Ken Caldeira, also of the Carnegie Institution, says "there's no
practical way to verify" that ocean seeding would sequester any
additional carbon -- and if it did, "it would exacerbate ocean
acidification."
Mr. Caldeira was co-author of a section of the United Nations'
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report that dealt with
ocean-carbon capture.
"It's far-fetched to claim you help ocean ecosystems by disturbing
them," he said.
Such projects are a disincentive to pursue real reductions in
fossil-fuel emissions, he said.
--
There may come a time when the CO2 police will wander the earth telling
the poor and the dispossed how many dung chips they can put on their
cook fires. -- Captain Compassion.
Wherever I go it will be well with me, for it was well with me here, not
on account of the place, but of my judgments which I shall carry away
with me, for no one can deprive me of these; on the contrary, they alone
are my property, and cannot be taken away, and to possess them suffices
me wherever I am or whatever I do. -- EPICTETUS
Celibacy in healthy human beings is a form of
insanity. -- Captain Compassion
"Civilization is the interval between Ice Ages." -- Will Durant.
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=8a0a5d45-e90c-460f-9462-ae1509594cdc
Proposal to boost plant life not a proven tactic to combat global
warming, officials say
Kelly Patterson, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Tuesday, June 19, 2007
A clash with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is threatening
to scuttle a U.S. company's plan to "seed" the Pacific Ocean with iron
dust to offset global warming.
Planktos Inc., which has offices in Vancouver and San Francisco, wants
to set sail this month from Florida to dump more than 45 tonnes of
iron dust into the sea near the Galapagos Islands.
The iron nutrients would stimulate the growth of phytoplankton, which
would then absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide -- an experimental
process Planktos compares to reforestation.
Planktos Inc. says phytoplankton, seen in bright blue and green, would
be increased if iron dust was dumped in the ocean, boosting carbon
dioxide absorption.
A for-profit "ecorestoration" company, Planktos plans to sell carbon
credits from this type of project to firms like Vancouver's Wedgewood
Hotel and Spa, which has agreed to buy 5,000 tonnes of carbon credits.
The firm launched its two-year "Voyage of Recovery" program in March,
launching a public relations campaign in Washington, D.C., to promote
its "green message of hope."
But in May, the EPA warned the firm it may need a permit under the
U.S. Ocean Dumping Act if it uses its U.S.-registered vessel, the
Weatherbird II.
Planktos CEO Russ George says U.S. regulations should apply only when
a firm dumps levels of a substance that are one per cent or more above
the level considered toxic.
His firm's plan would fall "roughly a billion times below regulatory
limit," he said.
If the EPA stands in his way, he says he will use a
flag-of-convenience ship.
Planktos' controversial plan, which has drawn fire from environmental
groups and many scientists, will be on the agenda of this week's
meeting of the International Maritime Organization in Spain, which
sets international shipping standards for matters such as ocean
dumping.
In a submission to the group, of which Canada and the U.S. are
members, the U.S. government urges nations to scrutinize any such
project, adding "Planktos was not able to provide the EPA with any
information ... (on) the potential environmental impacts" of the plan.
The U.S. cites the possibility that the project would lead to toxic
algae blooms, and that the decomposing plankton masses would release
other greenhouse gases or choke off the oxygen supply in the deep
ocean.
Nonsense, says Mr. George.
"The world has spent the last 20 years and more than $100 million"
developing the science behind the plan, he says.
"These questions have all been addressed," he says, blaming the EPA's
reservations on "fear mongering" by environmental groups, such as the
Ottawa-based ETC Group, which discovered the U.S. government document
this week.
Ken Caldeira, also of the Carnegie Institution, says "there's no
practical way to verify" that ocean seeding would sequester any
additional carbon -- and if it did, "it would exacerbate ocean
acidification."
Mr. Caldeira was co-author of a section of the United Nations'
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report that dealt with
ocean-carbon capture.
"It's far-fetched to claim you help ocean ecosystems by disturbing
them," he said.
Such projects are a disincentive to pursue real reductions in
fossil-fuel emissions, he said.
--
There may come a time when the CO2 police will wander the earth telling
the poor and the dispossed how many dung chips they can put on their
cook fires. -- Captain Compassion.
Wherever I go it will be well with me, for it was well with me here, not
on account of the place, but of my judgments which I shall carry away
with me, for no one can deprive me of these; on the contrary, they alone
are my property, and cannot be taken away, and to possess them suffices
me wherever I am or whatever I do. -- EPICTETUS
Celibacy in healthy human beings is a form of
insanity. -- Captain Compassion
"Civilization is the interval between Ice Ages." -- Will Durant.
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net
