Greenpeace Wins! Planktos Global Warming Research Blocked

Controversial global warming research firm Planktos just announced that their efforts to begin their first research cruise has been effectively stopped.

According to their press release, their boat was prevented from landing in the Canary islands, where they were due to meet a group of scientists who they were going to partner with.

I emailed one of the Planktos team and got the following explanation:

"The original plan was to do the first test near Equador, but as you may know, the Equadorian government expressed concerns. So the decision was made to go over to the Canary Islands to do joint research with the University of Las Palmas. The marine scientists at Las Palmas have been studying plankton growth for many years and had some extraordinarily valuable data and top quality people. We thought it could be a very fruitful and productive relationship that would make a significant contribution to the science of this field. Also the Spanish government is an active participant in the Kyoto process and could therefore help with regulatory oversight and so on. Unfortunately something happened. As we understand it, some folks in the environmental movement, who were opposed to our research, contacted the Spanish government and press and managed to get them to block our ship from entering port. "

When I aked "were you planning to carry out any iron fertilization experiments right away?" the answer was.

"No, we didn't even have all the equipment installed yet, and no iron fertilizer aboard. Keep in mind, this is a research vessel. Our first goal was to get a good working relationship with the other scientists, to do the appropriate planning with them. "

"It's ironic. On the same days that world leaders were meeting in Bali, Indonesia to try to grapple with global warming, our ship, which has been steaming across the Atlantic on a mission to prove that iron fertilization could be a safe, effective solution to global warming, was stopped dead in the water."

Wow! What a story!