In the race to find alternative fuels for transportation and energy, it's becoming ever more clear that biofuels, -- especially corn-based ethanol -- could have a wide range of unintended side effects. Aside from the argument that the production of biofuel uses more energy than it creates, scientists have discovered yet another environmental hazard created by farming for fuel; the rapid expansion of the Gulf's "Dead Zone."The 'dead zone' in the Gulf of Mexico is thought to be caused by agricultural pollution, i.e. nitrogen fertilizer, that is carried by the Mississippi and then dumped into the ocean. While fertilizer doesn't seem like the biggest environmental threat to the ocean, it results in a pretty nasty suffocating condition called hypoxia. Phytoplankton thrive on this fertilizer and bloom like crazy in waters where it's in high concentration. The problem comes when they start to die and sink to the bottom -- their decomposing bodies literally suck oxygen out of the water.
All the excitement over biofuels in the last few years has caused a major spike in corn production -- and it just so happens that of all the staple crops in the US, corn is the one that requires the most watering and fertilizer. When you mix heavy irrigation and tons of nitrogenous fertilizer, you get major runoff.
In the past, farmers were encouraged to rotate their fields between corn and soybeans -- a lower maintenance crop -- checking the amount of runoff and thus regulating the size of the dead zone. Now that the market for ethanol is blowing up, groups like the EPA are getting really worried about the possibility that corn will be in heavy rotation up and down the Mississippi Basin.
No comments:
Post a Comment