OTTAWA – The Harper government is refusing to permit fully funded fresh-water research to take place this summer at the remote Experimental Lakes Area in northwestern Ontario.

A group of researchers from Trent University in Peterborough, Ont., was told this week they are barred from the site, despite starting their work last summer and spending thousands of dollars on an approved trip to the lake last month.

Biologist Maggie Xenopoulos says the research on the environmental effects of silver nano particles — a common antibacterial additive to clothing — was funded by an $800,000 federal research grant and cannot be conducted anywhere else.

While her graduate research students are devastated, Xenopoulos says the biggest losers are the citizens of Canada who paid for leading-edge research that won’t be done.

Ottawa is currently negotiating with the provincial government and others to take over the Experimental Lakes Area, which has been conducting world-class science since 1968 into everything from acid rain and climate change to mercury exposure.

The federal government says the decision to close the facility will save it about $2 million a year.

Although the federal agreement doesn’t expire until September and negotiations for the transfer are continuing, a spokeswoman for Fisheries and Oceans says no researchers are allowed on the 60 lakes this summer because — as of March 31 — the facility is no longer a federal operation.