The arrangement would transfer the management of the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA), a research site made up of dozens of lakes near Kenora in northwestern Ontario, to a Manitoba-based think tank, the International Institute for Sustainable Development.
The deal also allows scientists to continue ongoing experiments this summer that were in jeopardy because of a decision made last year by Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government to cancel about $2 million in annual funding for the site. The dozens of lakes were used for decades to measure impacts of industrial pollution and climate change on natural ecosystems. The site’s research helped establish a historic North American treaty cracking down on pollution linked to acid rain and was also used to guide regulations restricting the use of phosphates in liquid detergents.
“I think this is a great day for underscoring how important evidence-based science is in helping guide policy decisions,” said Scott Vaughan, president and CEO of the research organization in an interview.
He explained that transparency was a critical part of his institute’s practices.
“So we would be transparent of the type of works that’s underway (and) we continue that work (and) that scientists speak freely to the press,” he said. “That’s a core part of our approach to this.”
The parties would now need to finalize details with the Ontario government, which has offered support for funding, as well as determining liability and remediation costs associated with the site.
Vaughan said that federal scientists doing research at the lakes could eventually continue their work as employees of the think tank.
“It’s going to be their choice, but we’re looking at whether they would actually become IISD employees,” he said, explaining that the deal would also require endorsement from his board of directors.
“We’re doing everything we can to keep that group (of scientists, technicians, support staff and security) that’s been doing this work, intact.”
David Gillis, director general for ecosystems science at the Fisheries Department, said the government had about 15 employees at the site, expected to remain until the end of the summer, and believed it would be good if they have the opportunity to continue their research with the institute.
“That would be very good news for those scientists and we would be very pleased to see that the expertise that has contributed to the success of the ELA over the last number of years would be available,” Gillis told Postmedia News.
“We have encouraged them (officials at IISD) to look at, not just the facilities but the people, because it takes the two of them together to make a facility like that work.”
He said that some employees may be offered opportunities in new roles at the department, but that it was unlikely that they would all have offers.
Reading from a prepared statement in the House of Commons, Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield thanked some Conservative MPs for “continued hard work” related to the ELA, saying that the tentative deal was an important step forward for the facility’s future.
Vaughan said his organization currently has an annual budget of about $15 million and may need to do additional fundraising and obtain support from governments to manage the site’s estimated operational costs of about $2 million per year.
Several scientists who worked at the site said in recent months that they had encouraged the institute to get involved, suggesting that the federal government was not actively trying to save the facility.
Britt Hall, associate professor from the University of Regina’s biology department, said she was pleased to hear about the transfer, explaining that she had little faith in the commitment of the Harper government to protect scientific research.
“Even if the ELA had stayed within this federal government – Harper’s government – I don’t believe it would have thrived,” said Hall. “In fact, I suspect it would have just been gradually starved to death.”
Hall, who is part of a team in the midst of a study at the site that could help explain how long it takes a lake to recover from contamination caused by mercury emissions from a coal-fired power plant, explained that the new management could give researchers more freedom to look at issues that might have been avoided by the government, such as regional impacts of oilsands development.
“I believe that this type of research is a federal responsibility,” said Hall. “I think that long-term monitoring is best-suited to governments. But I don’t trust this (federal) government with something so precious.”
Original Article
Source: canada.com
Author: Mike De Souza
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