A safety assessment released Thursday did not identify any potential harm from the work.
“We do not believe this work will have an adverse effect on the health of the surrounding community,” consultant and engineer Andrew Romolo said in a letter to city leaders. In a separate letter, a biological consultant said the saltwater spout would not harm terns or other sensitive species.
USS Hornet Museum Executive Director Laura Fees said her initial conversations with the research team focused mostly on the research’s immediate plans, rather than long-term implications, so the resulting controversy came as a surprise.
“We were like, ‘Hey, we’re making Seafoam Breeze, it’s cute, it’s fun,’ Fees said, “and I completely agree that the exciting and controversial parts are the parts that get the most news, which is what they’re doing now and what they’re doing years from now.”
Feeth said the carrier hosts events such as fireworks and jeep rides on the deck.
“We do a lot more wild stuff on the flight deck all the time,” Fees said. “The thing that’s being sprayed on the deck is seawater, very clean seawater. I never would have imagined the city would come and inspect it with a hazardous materials team.”
Most geoengineering ideas remain theoretical and untested—atmospheric scientists say there’s no evidence of any large-scale programs—but scientists are taking small steps to understand the basic physics and feasibility of some possibilities.
The broader implications of this work frighten some people because some geoengineering concepts could disrupt weather patterns, cause pollution, and change the appearance of the sky. Proponents argue that humanity is already geoengineering the Earth’s atmosphere by pumping carbon dioxide into it, and that the risks of global warming could be much worse.
When it comes to regulation, geoengineering is something of a lawless area. Tennessee became the first state to broadly ban the practice. Congressional debate this year has been dominated by wild conspiracy theories about so-called “chemtrails,” widespread confusion and inaccurate suggestions that a massive federal geoengineering program is already underway.
Sarah Henry, a spokeswoman for the city of Alameda, said the mayor’s office was notified that “they have a research partner on the Hornet who is working on spraying fog on the Hornet’s flight deck.”
“This is how it ended up happening because we didn’t know that the University of Washington was a partner, nor did we know the details of the research that was being done,” she said.
The research team also includes scientists from SRI International, a nonprofit research institute founded by Stanford University, and Silver Lining in Washington, DC. Nonprofits focused on climate intervention.
The scientists External assessment of regulatory and licensing requirements Before you start your project.
Josh Horton, a senior fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School who studies solar geoengineering policy, said such projects tend to raise deeper concerns and make people think about the darkest possibilities of climate change.
“The studies currently being considered are extremely small scale and pose absolutely no physical environmental risk. It’s all about political symbolism and the uncomfortable questions it raises,” he said.
Houghton also questioned why scientists decided to keep the project secret until it was operational.
“This feeds into conspiracy theories. It feeds into fears that privileged people are running this behind the scenes without consulting the public,” he said.
But Wood said public education was part of the plan, and project leaders chose Hornet “to help engage with local communities and wider stakeholders in a tangible way through direct access to the research”.
Feeth said the museum has been working with researchers to plan a live exhibit for students, and he hopes the city council will approve the plan.
“Who doesn’t want to be in a place where water is splashing around?” she said.
Source: www.nbcnews.com
