LOC-NESS to Pursue Existing Permit for OAE Research Summer 2025

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has announced that the LOC-NESS Project, a research project focused on transparently evaluating the effectiveness and environmental impact of a proposed climate solution called ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE), is pursuing a revised permit for a small-scale, highly monitored field trial during the summer of 2025. The permit would come under an existing application filed with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in mid-2024. 

The EPA has announced a new 30-day public comment period on the amended permit application. The public comment period runs between January 15 to February 14, 2025, and interested parties can submit comments here. There is a virtual public listening session (registration HERE) on February 5, 2024 from 6-7pm ET. The project previously earned support from leading scientists and environmental organizations during the initial public comment period last summer.

This research, which is supported by multiple philanthropic and federal funding sources, advances critical climate goals laid out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the National Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal Strategy released by the federal government in 2024, as well as a call by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine for research to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of a suite of proposed ocean-based carbon dioxide removal techniques. 

Ocean alkalinity enhancement is a carbon dioxide removal technique that works by temporarily de-acidifying water at the surface of the ocean, thereby enhancing a naturally occurring process that pulls carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into the ocean and that helps make the ocean one of the world’s largest carbon sinks. The proposed field trial would include slowly adding up to about 17,000 gallons of alkalinity, in this case sodium hydroxide, which is widely used to make drinking water less acidic. Models and laboratory experiments have shown that the sodium hydroxide will dilute very rapidly—reaching levels equal to or lower than safe drinking water standards (pH 8.5), and well below levels that are known to harm marine life, in about 30 seconds. 

LOC-NESS submitted two permit applications to the EPA in January of 2024—one for research to be completed in 2024 south of Cape Cod and another for 2025 in the Gulf of Maine. The 2024 project was postponed due to a change in ship availability announced previously. After further consulting with the EPA and engaging with the fishing community, tribes, and other interested groups, LOC-NESS is now pursuing only the 2025 permit application for the Gulf of Maine location, but at a significantly smaller scale. 

The revised permit application includes a 75% reduction in alkalinity dispersed and focuses only on work taking place in the Gulf of Maine, at a location that minimizes impact on the marine environment and activities like fishing. There is minimal, if any, environmental risk associated with this research, which was affirmed via EPA’s prior consultations with federal agencies on the original permit applications, including NOAA Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“We are excited at the prospect of moving forward with our research to impartially evaluate the effectiveness and environmental impact of OAE, and we’ve continued to engage and consult commercial and recreational fishers, Indigenous communities, and the general public throughout this process,” said Adam Subhas, Associate Scientist in Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry at WHOI, and Project Lead of LOC-NESS. “If we are going to prevent the worst effects of climate change, which is already causing the ocean to change at unprecedented rates here in New England and around the world, we need independent, transparent science to determine which solutions work, and which don’t.”

“Our project thus far has included extensive modeling, laboratory work, community engagement, and field research off the coast of Massachusetts in 2023, and our proposal to conduct small scale, highly controlled research next summer is the next step,” Subhas continued. “We have consulted extensively with fellow scientists, community members, and the fishing industry, and based in part on those conversations, we have amended our permit application in ways that reduces its disruption to fishing and other activities while still allowing us to gather much-needed, high quality data that will be available to the public. We appreciate the EPA’s willingness to work with us, and we encourage folks to participate in this public comment period.”

Key facts about the LOC-NESS research project include: 

• Ocean alkalinity enhancement has been rated as one of the highest potential climate solutions by the National Academies of Science, which has called for research like the LOC-NESS project. The Washington Post recently reported that, “[a]fter studying the potential of marine carbon removal technologies, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found ocean alkalinity enhancement was the most effective at capturing carbon long-term and among the cheapest options.”
• Last summer, the EPA conducted a 40-day public comment period on the LOC-NESS project, which WHOI is now pursuing at a smaller scale. The Agency received more than one hundred comments, including extensive support from independent scientific experts.
• The revised permit, which is subject to the current 30-day public comment period, proposes research at the exact same location in the Gulf of Maine as the initial permit. 
• WHOI has held or participated in more than 40 community engagement and outreach activities, including in-person town halls, listening sessions, and presentations to the fishing community, and online webinars. The project has received local and national media coverage, in outlets from the Provincetown Independent and the Boston Globe, to the New York Times.

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About Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) is a private, non-profit organization on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, dedicated to marine research, engineering, and higher education. Established in 1930, its primary mission is to understand the ocean and its interaction with the Earth as a whole, and to communicate an understanding of the ocean’s role in the changing global environment. WHOI’s pioneering discoveries stem from an ideal combination of science and engineering—one that has made it one of the most trusted and technically advanced leaders in basic and applied ocean research and exploration anywhere. WHOI is known for its multidisciplinary approach, superior ship operations, and unparalleled deep-sea robotics capabilities. We play a leading role in ocean observation and operate the most extensive suite of data-gathering platforms in the world. Top scientists, engineers, and students collaborate on more than 800 concurrent projects worldwide—both above and below the waves—pushing the boundaries of knowledge and possibility. For more information, please visit www.whoi.edu