Cape Cod scientists delay controversial climate change project after feds raise concern
Story by Lance Reynolds, Boston Herald • 10h •
BOSTON — Cape Cod scientists are delaying a geoengineering project that looks to dump more than 60,000 gallons of sodium hydroxide into the ocean and has caught federal concerns around potential impacts on the ecosystem.
Scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Falmouth have pushed back the project from mid-September to next summer because they say a fully-equipped research vessel is no longer available.
Woods Hole’s decision to delay became public two days after the National Marine Fisheries published a warning last Monday that the project could “adversely affect federally-managed species and other NOAA trust resources.”
The experiment, consisting of two phases, would dump sodium hydroxide and freshwater into the Atlantic, temporarily changing the water’s chemistry – increasing carbon dioxide levels that the ocean absorbs.
Scientists say it’s an effort that could be a way to slow climate change in the long run.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/cape-cod-scientists-delay-controversial-climate-change-project-after-feds-raise-concern/ar-AA1oYInQ?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=0253535cb75244479e857b0e0f187e86&ei=20