The Environmental Protection Agency has scheduled a public hearing on Kaua’i on Wednesday, May 22 to discuss a proposal to pump carbon dioxide into the ocean off Nawiliwili Harbor. The ocean experiment, proposed by the Pacific Center for High Technology
The Environmental Protection Agency has scheduled a public hearing on Kaua’i on Wednesday, May 22 to discuss a proposal to pump carbon dioxide into the ocean off Nawiliwili Harbor.
The ocean experiment, proposed by the Pacific Center for High Technology Research, will involve dumping about 5,000 gallons of liquid carbon dioxide into the ocean about four miles off shore over a span of two weeks.
The EPA is extending the public comment period to allow more people to submit comments about the proposed testing. Ota said he hasn’t received any research-based information that the dispersion of carbon dioxide in the ocean will have a negative impact on marine life.
“We are the permitting agency,” Ota said, “We are not proponents of this kind of science.”
A similar CO2 test was stopped in Keahole on the Big Island after substantial opposition from the fishing community and environmental groups.
Most people who have submitted comments to the EPA say they are concerned that the temporary research permit would will allow large-scale CO2 dumping in the future, said Allan Ota, ocean dumping coordinator for the EPA in San Francisco.
“We would need more information to substantiate that the tests would impact something miles away,” Ota said.
The public meeting is scheduled for 4-6 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. at Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School, and the EPA is extending the public comment period to June 14 in order to collect more substantive comments from researchers and the public. A detailed announcement of public meetings will be released today.
