Ocean carbon dioxide study awaits federal OK

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Science Writer

The U.S. Department of Energy has released an environmental assessment for a plan to pump carbon dioxide into waters off the Big Island, but has not yet made any recommendation based on the report.

•	For more information on the project, visit www.co2experiment.org

Gerard Nihous, climate-change program manager for the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research, said he is convinced long-term damage is extremely unlikely.

The experiment involves the release of up to 40 tons of liquefied carbon dioxide, spread in individual releases lasting no longer than two hours over a two-week period. Each release must have completely dissipated before the next can begin, Nihous said.

A recommendation by DOE is expected within a few weeks.

The liquid carbon dioxide would be carried aboard ship to a point off Keahole Point on the Big Island. It would be pumped through a pipe and released at 2,600 feet below the surface, Nihous said.

If allowed to go forward, the experiments would be performed in the fall of this year. Biologists will be on hand to study the effects on marine life.

Researchers believe the liquid "bubble" of carbon dioxide initially would be buoyant and rise until it mixes with the ocean water. The carbon-rich water would then be heavier than the surrounding water and would begin to sink.

The goal is to study the way carbon dioxide behaves, and whether it is reasonable to assume the compound ultimately would remain "locked" in the deep ocean.

Opponents, including fishing lobbyist Rick Gaffney and Native Hawaiian fisherman Isaac Harp, said they are concerned about possible effects on fishing in an area where the healthy marine ecosystem is important to the tourism economy and subsistence fishing.

Stephen Masutani, one of the project officials of the CO2 Ocean Sequestration Field Experiment, said he believes much of the concern over such releases is with the concept of eventually pumping large amounts of gas into the deep ocean over a long period of time.

Copies of the environmental assessment are available at the Hawaii State Library and libraries in Hilo and Kailua-Kona.