Kodiak's St. Paul Harbor on Oct. 3, 2022 (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Marine heatwaves, fisheries declines and coastal erosion show Alaskans how changes to our climate can threaten our ways of life. Governor Mike Dunleavy and others have proposed that we should welcome new industries that seek to capture and store carbon away from the atmosphere, including marine carbon dioxide removal, to boost our economy and reduce the impacts of climate change. This sounds like a win-win for Alaska, but there are many complexities and most Alaskans have never even heard about this issue.
The idea behind marine carbon dioxide removal, also known as mCDR, is to increase the ability of the ocean to take up carbon dioxide. The ocean already absorbs carbon dioxide whenever the concentration is higher in the atmosphere than the water. Various mCDR proposals include adding minerals to the ocean to shift its chemistry so that more carbon dioxide can dissolve into seawater, adding nutrients such as iron to promote carbon uptake by algae or growing kelp and then sinking it into the deep sea. These proposals seek to test whether it’s feasible to build a new trillion-dollar global industry to sell carbon credits to governments or companies based on sequestering carbon in the ocean.
Alaska’s unique oceanography and geography provide an ideal location for many types of mCDR strategies. On the other hand, our marine ecosystems provide the basis of a multi-billion dollar fishing industry and are priceless in terms of supporting Alaskan ways of life. Any industry that could have a substantial impact on ocean ecosystems should be examined carefully.
The time is running short for communities to learn about mCDR and be adequately consulted before these technologies are implemented in Alaskan waters. The federal government is currently investing millions of dollars in mCDR research and congress is considering new legislation to support further research. Simultaneously, some privately-funded groups, such as Exploring Ocean Iron Solutions, are exploring plans to test the mCDR strategy of adding iron to stimulate carbon uptake in the Northeast Pacific in the next few years.
We invite our fellow Alaskans to join us for community conversations to learn more about the various strategies for mCDR and to provide perspectives on this new proposed industry in our waters. Through the Community Leaders and mCDR project, known as the CLaM project, we plan to hold round-table events in Cordova and Kodiak this December, as well as a discussion at the Alaska Forum on the Environment in Anchorage in February. We hope that these conversations will give coastal communities, whose lives and livelihoods are dependent on marine ecosystems, a greater voice in shaping the trajectory of mCDR research and industry development in our state.
We owe it to present and future generations of Alaskans to carefully consider what path to take on mCDR, understanding that whatever path we choose is likely to have a big impact on our economy and ecosystems.
