Prometheus 6

Why was it a bad idea?

An annual dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico has appeared earlier this year than in the past, suggesting it might be larger this summer.

The dead zone is created by spring runoff, which carries fertilizer and other nutrients into the Gulf. Phytoplankton blooms around river mouths spread. When the creatures die and sink to the bottom, their decomposition strips oxygen from the water, creating inhospitable conditions for other marine life.

The lack of oxygen is called hypoxia. 

Commercial Ocean Fertilization Project Halted
By Andrew C. Revkin

Planktos, the California company trying to turn a profit by fertilizing the ocean with iron dust, pulled the plug on planned field tests on Wednesday, citing a lack of funds. At the company’s Web site, planktos.com, a simple notice blamed the shutdown on a “highly effective disinformation campaign waged by anti-offset crusaders.”

The business plan had been to sell “carbon offset” credits earned by triggering blooms of phytoplankton that, in theory, would absorb a predictable amount of the climate-warming gas carbon dioxide through photosynthesis and then sink to the seabed. The credits would be sold to companies or individuals trying to compensate for unavoidable emissions of carbon dioxide (from driving, flying, and the like).