General

Fight continues for Experimental Lakes Area

Dr. John Downing, ASLO President and Iowa State University, Dr. Azit Mazumder, University of Victoria, Dr. Karen Kidd, University of New Brunswick, Dr. James Elser , ASLO President-elect and Arizona State University and Dr. David Schindler, Killam Memorial Professor, U. of Alberta

The fight continues for the Experimental Lakes Area, still scheduled to close by March 31.

The federal government has yet to find a suitable organization to take over the project, so the valuable scientific work done there is threatened. Some leading scientists made a stand at the opening yesterday of the annual meeting of the Association for the Science of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) in New Orleans. Five of them appeared wearing T-shirts that said “Save Our ELA,” including David Schindler, the former director of the ELA and James Elser, the ASLO president-elect.

The scientists noted that almost all of the sessions at the conference used science that was derived from or inspired by the work done at the ELA. The organizers of the Coalition to Save ELA are still hoping that the government will reverse its decision and keep the facility open, or at the very least keep it running until a successful transition to a new operator can be made.

If you want to be part of the protest, take a minute to send an e-mail to the prime minister and the ministries involved.