“If this (experiment) happened, it would be in violation of Canada’s Environment Protection Act,” Peter Kent, the Minister of Environment, told the Star.
He declined to comment on allegations that Environment Canada was aware if it but did not stop it.
The environmental controversy started when Russ George, an American entrepreneur, dumped 100 tonnes of iron sulphate into the Pacific near the Haida Gwaii islands in July after allegedly telling local villagers that the “experiment” was a salmon restoration project.
Ocean iron fertilization is contentious. It means stimulating plankton blooms in open water, which then seize carbon from the atmosphere and, on sinking to the bottom of the ocean, store it away.
Experiments, mostly done by universities, have shown mixed results.
The experiment came to light a few days ago and then spun out of control when John Disney, a colleague of George, told the CBC that many federal departments knew about the experiment.
“All I am saying is that everyone from the Canadian Revenue Agency down to the National Research Council and Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Environment Canada — these people, they’ve all known about this,” he told CBC.
Other federal departments referred questions to Environment Canada.
Disney and George did not respond to Star’s request for comment but are reported to be planning a news conference in Vancouver for later this week.
If Environment Canada and other departments knew and didn’t stop the “experiment” from going ahead, “it is a very large scandal,” said Jim Thomas, of ETC Group, an international environmental watchdog with offices in Canada.
“It’s very troubling . . . they have a lot of accounting to do,” he said.
Kent said a representative of George and Disney’s company met with Environment Canada officers on May 7 and talked about the geo-engineering plan. The representative was told of requirements under the disposal-at-sea program.
“Since then Environment Canada has not received any request for the same,” said Kent.
But on Aug. 29, Environment Canada’s enforcement branch was made aware of a “deposit and started investigating,” he said.
He wasn’t sure how long the investigation would last.
Ken Denman, an oceanographer with the University of Victoria said he has been inundated with emails from scientists all over asking how the Canadian government could let something like this happen.
Like all scientists, Denman says he isn’t sure what impact a dump this size — 100 tonnes of iron sulphate — will have on the ocean, but says there will be profound implications.
“All this publicity will put pressure on the Canadian government to take it seriously,” he said.
The geo-engineering controversy could not have erupted at a worse time for Canada: it’s attending a United Nations biodiversity meeting in Hyderabad, India, where Canada was “given” the ignominious Dodo Award.
The awards are given to governments who have failed to evolve, and whose actions are adding to biodiversity loss.
The Convention on Biological Diversity Alliance, conveners of the award, called Canada the leader for breaching a moratorium on ocean fertilization and geo-engineering adopted by the CBD.
Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Raveena Aulakh
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