For six years, Cynthia Gilmour, senior scientist at the SmithsonianEnvironmental Research Center, led a research team that annuallypoured a teaspoon of mercury isotope, diluted in water, into asmall, remote lake in Northwestern Ontario. More related to this story Mulcair is right that Alberta must respect the environment Awed by oil sands, Mulcair calls for more environmental oversight No room for centrist compromise in a left-right split Canada The international project was being conducted in the federallyfunded Experimental Lakes Area (ELA), a unique outdoor laboratoryfor ecosystem research consisting of 58 lakes and their drainageareas. Dr. Gilmour and her colleagues from the United States and Canadawanted to determine the environmental impacts of new deposits ofmercury a powerful brain toxin into a lake that already hadhigh background levels. The ELA was the one place in the worldwhere they could do that. The centre has hosted a number of groundbreaking research projectsover its 55 years, including major advances in the understanding oflake acidification and eutrophication the destruction of a bodyof water through the addition of nutrients such as phosphates andnitrates. Now, as part of its spending restraint, the Harper government hasannounced that Fisheries and Oceans Canada will stop funding theExperimental Lakes Area and close the world-renowned researchcentre by next April if a new operator cannot be found. Supporters from Canada and across the world are signing an onlinepetition and writing letters urging the government to reverse thatdecision, arguing the centre is irreplaceable. Former top researchers at the centre say the decision is emblematicof the government s anti-science approach to environmental policyand its emphasis on resource development with little regard forimpacts on the ecosystem unless they affect commercially importantfish stocks. I think they are uninterested in the environment and scientificresearch into the environment, said John Rudd, who served aschief scientist at ELA and now consults for private labs. Theydon t want to see things that might get in the way of promotingindustry. Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield appears unwilling to reconsider,and officials said the budget cuts were part of a priority-settingexercise in a time of restraint. The minister understands that science is the backbone ofFisheries and Oceans Canada, and the freshwater research conductedat other sites across the country will satisfy the current needs ofthe department, said Mr. Ashfield s spokeswoman, BarbaraMottram, in an e-mailed statement. We look forward totransferring the facility to a third party that will benefit fromthis unique location. Departmental officials are working aggressively to find a groupto take over the funding, said David Gillis, director-general ofthe department s Ocean and Ecosystem Science division. He said theoperating costs amount to about $700,000 a year, though formerchief scientists say the baseline budget is more like $3-millionannually when core researchers are included. Dr. Rudd said it would be difficult to find another organization tooperate the centre. Universities are strapped for cash, while theprovince of Ontario is dealing with a deficit challenge evengreater than Ottawa s. It s not the first time the centre has faced a possible closure. In the 1970s, the Liberal government under Pierre Trudeau cut itsfunding, but it was rescued by fledgling oil sands companies thatfinanced research into the impact of sulphur dioxide emissions onthe acidification of lakes. In the 1990s, under the Liberal government program review, theDepartment of Fisheries was unsuccessful in its attempt to transferresponsibility for the ELA but not its budget to theDepartment of Environment. Its supporters say the research in real-world conditions actuallysaves money for governments and industry by avoiding costlymistakes that result from ineffectual policy and wrong-headedregulation. David Schindler, the University of Alberta biologist who has madewaves with his research into the impact of the oil sands, has alsobeen affiliated with the ELA, doing work on eutrophication. Afterstudying the effect of both phosphates and nitrates on algaeproduction, he advised the City of Winnipeg not to undertake anexpensive effort to remove nitrates from sewage because the benefitwould be negligible. In the mercury-related research, scientists found that newlyintroduced mercury enters the food chain far more quickly thanexisting sources and that lakes and aquatic life recover quicklywhen deposits stop. Dr. Gilmour said the research primarily funded by U.S.institutions helped persuade American regulators to forceutilities to remove the element from the emissions of coal-firedpower plants, with the expectation the move would save tens ofbillions of dollars annually in health costs associated withmercury poisoning. Canadian regulators have yet to respond. In a letter written last week, Dr. Gilmour asked Mr. Ashfield toreconsider the decision to close the centre. By shutting ELA you remove a critical tool for finding the mostreasonable and cost-effective solutions to national andinternational environmental issues, she wrote. The smallfederal investment in the research station has been returnedthousands of times over in public and ecosystem health. More related to this story An excellent debate about resource revenues Western premiers set to discuss Mulcair's oil-sands stand Harper is right: Foreign radicals are after the oil sands. 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