Washington, DC – Today, Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) wrote to the National Academy of Sciences to urge that its study of promising new methods of removing carbon pollution from the atmosphere be extended to include removing carbon from our oceans. A comprehensive assessment of direct carbon removal from our oceans would help to face down severe threats from carbon pollution, like ocean acidification, and to drive the development of marketable carbon capture technologies and processes.
“As the committee on Developing a Research Agenda for Carbon Dioxide Removal and Reliable Sequestration continues to develop your Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) report, we request that you consider expanding your focus to include ocean carbon capture technologies and processes,” the Senators write. “In particular, in your ‘blue carbon’ area of study, we urge you to expand your research and analysis beyond wetlands and marshes to focus on opportunities for direct removal of CO2 from our oceans. Although this is a nascent area of research, the combined threat of ocean acidification and recognition of commercial opportunities has given our national labs and universities the necessary impetus to begin research and early stage testing on various processes.”
The oceans have absorbed approximately 30 percent of the excess carbon dioxide that humans have added to the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution, leading to dramatic changes in ocean ecology and chemistry. In particular, this absorption has led to a rapid increase in the acidity of ocean water, which threatens a range of pivotal ocean organisms in marine food chains.
More and more scientific experts cite direct air carbon dioxide removal as potentially important in our efforts to mitigate the carbon pollution driving climate change. That is why the Academy has begun a comprehensive study of the benefits and risks associated with these technologies and processes, and their potential to become commercially viable and cost-effective.
Full text of the Senators’ letter is below. A PDF copy is available here.
August 7, 2017
Dr. Marcia K. McNutt
President
National Academy of Sciences
500 Fifth Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20001
Dear Dr. McNutt:
As the committee on Developing a Research Agenda for Carbon Dioxide Removal and Reliable Sequestration continues to develop your Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) report, we request that you consider expanding your focus to include ocean carbon capture technologies and processes. In particular, in your “blue carbon” area of study, we urge you to expand your research and analysis beyond wetlands and marshes to focus on opportunities for direct removal of CO2 from our oceans. Although this is a nascent area of research, the combined threat of ocean acidification and recognition of commercial opportunities has given our national labs and universities the necessary impetus to begin research and early stage testing on various processes.
The Department of Energy (DOE) in its assessment of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB) CO2 Utilization Report supported additional focus on carbon capture for oceans and on ocean mineralization. DOE noted that this research “has significant potential benefits for areas with much greater, and more immediate, economic impact than DAC, including waste water treatment, sea water desalination, and mineral extractions, among others.” Research in this area could help drive down the overall costs of direct air capture – and lead to new and innovative technologies and methods of carbon utilization that could benefit carbon capture projects across the board.
We have both been briefed on related research that is already underway at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory – and find the work being done potentially transformative in both the capture and utilization spaces. Its “SeaSand” project is exploring how to pull CO2 from the ocean to precipitate carbonate building materials like limestone bricks and sand. The act of pulling CO2 from seawater could aid in combatting ocean acidification, reduce the amount of carbon in our oceans, and potentially create new commercial opportunities in our coastal communities – all while advancing carbon capture and utilization technologies for use and export on a global scale.
While one of us represents a Coastal state and the other a lignite coal producing Plains state, we both understand the need to advance carbon capture and utilizations technologies – regardless of the carbon source. We also agree that in a global landscape that is moving towards a carbon constrained future, we must continue to support research and innovation that can be both
environmentally and commercially beneficial. We applaud your research in this area and share your belief that the U.S. should continue to lead on energy innovation. Thank you for your consideration of this request.
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