If you can add to that a way to actually clean it up then I think you'd see more support for it. IMO the fed's are dragging their feet on the research because they are afraid of a negative result. Its a bit ridiculous that there is only one small lab working on it given how important the project is.
None of the research to date has been done on a scaled tank with BC conditions, thats a big missing piece. Nearly all of it have bee fresh water studies. People can hypothesize all they want, but until you've actually done something you don't have the evidence.