Meetings are taking place this week to address concerns over a plan to dump magnesium hydroxide in St Ives Bay in a bid to slow climate change.
Planetary Technologies’ plan seeks to increase the alkalinity of the seawater to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. It is looking to release 200 to 300 tones of brucite – the mineral form of magnesium hydroxide – in the bay this spring.
“We’re trying to restore the ocean and restore the climate for generations,” said Peter Chargin, vice-president of commercialisation and community relations at Planetary Technologies. “We’re transforming CO2 in the air into salt in the ocean. We think this can be a big arrow in the quiver of solutions for climate change.”
The experiment is governed under a license from the Environment Agency.
Groups including Cornwall Wildlife Trust and Cornwall Seal Research Trust, while acknowledging the need to fight climate change, have expressed concern that the plan needs further research before it gets under way.
Consultation meetings are being held by Planetary Technologies at the Passmore Edwards Institute, in Hayle, at 7pm this evening, and Epiphany House, Truro, at 7pm tomorrow.
