Portland company with big plans for using seaweed to soak up carbon draws scrutiny

MAINE PUBLIC • July 18, 2022

A Portland startup company that aims to remove millions of tons of planet-warming carbon from the air and store it deep in the ocean is going international. Running Tide is expanding its footprint to Iceland, but its ambitious plans are also drawing scrutiny. Running Tide founder Marty Odlin has a big idea about how to fight climate change: millions of seaweed farms. Little ones, suspended from biodegradable buoys floating free in the north Atlantic. Some scientists are skeptical but the Icelandic government likes what it's seeing so far. This month it granted Running Tide a four-year permit to release up to 50,000 tons of biodegradable rafts off Iceland's coast, with the understanding that up to 450,000 tons more could be released in international waters.