The Experimental Lakes Area (ELA), while not well known outside scientific circles, has become a political embarrassment for the government, a lightning rod for critics who say the spendthrift Conservatives are hacking away at environmental science while spending huge amounts on advertising and communications.

The Harper Government isn't the first government to threaten it with the axe, said scientist David Schindler, one of the ELA founders. The University of Alberta ecologist said putting the facility under the care of the IISD is a good fit.

"It wouldn't take much to be a better home than DFO, which I've always felt was a wicked stepmother to a Cinderella project." He said this is the fourth time a government has tried to close the project. "It will, I think, be good for the ELA to be free of that curse," said Schindler.