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A $5 million, five-year international experiment to combat global
warming by depositing carbon dioxide on the seafloor off Hawaii was abandoned
last week after local fishermen and whale-watchers complained that the move
would harm local reefs. Researchers planned to pipe 40 to 60 tonnes of liquefied
carbon dioxide onto the seafloor at a depth of 800 metres, which would then
slowly dissolve. The state-funded Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii, where the
experiment was based, last week pulled out of the project. “It is a
controversial project for reasons I find difficult to fathom,” says Stephen
Matsutani of the University of Hawaii.