Is Ethanol Production Fueling the Size of the Dead Zone?
The Gulf Coast Dead Zone is one of the reasons Katrina did as much damage as it did. The Dead Zone is caused by a number of interrelated factors. But regardless of what the exact cause is, each year it is one factor (on multiple levels) that contributes to the eroding the coast of Louisiana. The lost wet lands, totaling hundreds of acres a year, serve as a buffer against large storms. Lets cue a new, or at least an increased factor that will contribute to the growth of “Dead Zone” and lost of yet more wet lands:
The large “dead zone” that grows in the Gulf of Mexico every summer is nothing new. The toxic runoff of nitrogen fertilizer used on conventional crops in the Midwest leads to a huge swathe of sea that is incapable of sustaining life. The nitrogen-rich fertilizer leads to an increase of algae life, which in turn removes oxygen from the water. The end result: a dead zone that typically grows to the size of New Jersey.
Corn is the biggest culprit in creating these environments, and now that the U.S. is looking to biofuels as a solution to its energy needs, the problem’s only getting worse. Bush signed legislation at the end of 2007 that will triple the amount of corn ethanol produced over the next several years.
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