Climate experts, state officials, fisheries advocates and green groups are asking EPA to pump the brakes on research that would release caustic soda into the ocean off Massachusetts with a goal of increasing offshore carbon-absorbing capacity.
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s two-phase project would initially release 20 metric tons of a sodium hydroxide (NaOH) 11 nautical miles off Martha’s Vineyard, whose residents have also voiced concern.
The concept — called ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) — is not new, but it has not been tested at this scale in the U.S. In a 2022 assessment, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine said the ocean “holds great potential for uptake and longer-term sequestration of human-produced C2.”
Woods Hole has applied for permits for both project phases under the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act, the first of which could begin in late September. The research effort — called LOC-NESS for “Locking away Ocean Carbon in the Northeast Shelf and Slope” — is led by Woods Hole marine chemist Adam Subhas, who was not available for comment.
