McGill University will receive a $3.7-million research grant from the federal government to find solutions to clean marine oil spills.
The funding will be put towards two research projects “that will help improve protocols and decision-making to minimize the environmental impacts of oil spills,” according to a news release by Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
The science
The projects will focus on natural attenuation, a process that uses microbes to reduce water and soil contaminants, said Charles Greer, a professor from McGill’s department of natural resources.
“We know that the ocean is full of bacteria that have the ability to eat oil,” he said. “In fact, some of them are so specialized that they eat only oil. What we want to do is take note of where they are and what their capabilities are.”
Greer added his research team will be taking a more hands-on approach to these projects than the department has in the past.
“There is a need to move out of the lab and into a field-setting so that we can gain data in a real-world scenario. That is, to do an experimental, controlled oil spill on a beach, most likely in the Arctic.” – Charles Greer, a professor from McGill’s department of natural resource.
The projects will be funded under the Multi-Partner Research Initiative, a federal program meant to encourage collaboration among Canadian experts on oil spill research through a five-year grant.
Concordia University’s Chunjiang An, an associate engineering and computer science professor who specializes in resource recovery, will receive $4.5-million to conduct similar research.
McGill’s research was made possible by recent discoveries about how quickly certain microbes can break down oil, said Kenneth Lee, the national senior science advisor for oil spill research, preparedness, and response for Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
“Our understanding of what microbes can do or cannot do has changed over the decades,” he said. “In the past, we always thought that, under extreme conditions, very few microbes can degrade oil. We’ve now recently discovered that there are many more microbes that can degrade oil, and their capacity is much greater than we ever thought.”
In addition to environmental and resource recovery, the multimillion-dollar grant will also create an influx of employment opportunities for McGill students.
“We’re looking at some undergraduate positions, some post-graduate positions, and probably even more post-doctoral positions,” said Greer. “These people will all be involved in performing different aspects of this research, from doing some of the field research itself, to bringing samples back into the lab and analyzing them to produce various reports and data.”
Greer added that various student-written publications “will be required for disseminating this knowledge to a variety of stakeholders, which would include government policy makers.”
Economic benefit
However, while investments in sustainability research have become more commonplace in the past decade, it is unlikely that one of this size will have an impact on the country’s economy.
Though research into oil spill cleanup could eventually lead to economic benefit, the amount of money currently being invested is not enough for significant financial gain, said Andre Plourde, dean of Carleton University’s Faculty of Public Affairs and a professor of resource economics.
“Investments in research will lead to innovation, which in it of itself is a good way to move an economy forward,” he said. “I think this is a relatively small investment on the part of the federal government, and so I would not think the major reason for doing this is for the potential economic impact of this particular spending.”
Though Greer’s research will have some benefits, there are more pressing environmental issues that should be addressed before oil spill cleanups, said Dasha Gousseva, sustainability commissioner for the Students’ Society of McGill University.
“McGill is taking a shot to take care of the environment, promoting student and faculty research, and potentially expanding these projects, which all sounds good,” she said.
“The idea that as the Arctic melts, we’re going to have more cargo ships going through the Northwest Passage, and we’re realizing there will be more oil spills.” – Dasha Gousseva, sustainability commissioner for the Students’ Society of McGill University.
“Seeing that more and more ice is melting, why not look at the fact that the ice is melting rather than taking a secondary approach to a solution?” she added.
If McGill wants to prove to its students that it’s doing its part to take care of the environment it’s going to have to start by addressing its history of unsustainable investments, said Gousseva.
“McGill University is known for being very stringent and very tight on responding to students as far as their demands for divestment from fossil fuel extraction,” she said. “Hearing that it’s receiving this funding for such research, this feels like it’s very much for appearances rather than aligning with the environmental concern the university is presenting.”
Feature image from file.
