MAINE PUBLIC • June 20, 2024
In March, Running Tide Technologies was riding a wave of success. It announced it had locked 21,000 tons of carbon dioxide in the ocean off Iceland. The company delivered thousands of carbon offset credits to companies eager to show reductions in their greenhouse gas emissions. It had brought in $50 million in start up investment. But last Friday Running Tide suspended operations and laid off its remaining staff. Founder Marty Odlin points to changes in the credit market and other factors that made it tough to keep investors interested. And just days before Running Tide closed, an Icelandic newspaper published a searing investigation, raising questions about its importation of Canadian wood chips coated with limestone that it dumped in the ocean. Odlin said some of the employees Running Tide had at its peak are ready to carry on its mission, and that at least three new companies have already been started by former workers.