Corn Ethanol Worsens Gulf of Mexico 'Dead Zone'
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY 
on 06.12.08
photo by tlindenbaum
It’s almost considered conventional wisdom at this point that corn ethanol probably isn’t the best biofuel out there. It may not be the primary cause of global food shortages, but corn-based ethanol has nevertheless has gotten a bad rap lately. Here’s something that won’t change that tarnished reputation:
Ethanol Expansion Contributes to Increase Runoff
According to Louisiana State University professor R. Eugene Turner growth in the Midwest corn-based biofuel industry may be the cause of a record-breaking “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico this summer.
Turner as quoted in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “In the past several years, there’s been an expansion of corn, which has the highest fertilizer per acre...and that’s for biofuels.”
How much of an expansion? Last year U.S. farmers planted 90 million acres of corn: The greatest amount in the last 60 years. Obviously not all of the expansion is because of increased ethanol production. As many authors have pointed out corn is in a huge percentage of the US food supply whether we recognize it or not. The result is that gains is preventing runoff which began in 1990s have been
In the 1990s voluntary efforts by corn growers and states to reduce runoff resulted in a 30% decrease, but since then expanding corn production has made up the difference.
NASA photo
Worst ‘Dead Zone’ Ever
According to Turner’s team’s research the area of oxygen deprived water caused by fertilizer run-off into the Mississippi River is expected to grow to over 10,000 square miles this year. The previous record was in 2002, when the gigantic algae bloom covered 8,500 sq. miles. For those that need a different reference point: that’s an area bigger than the state of New Jersey. In this area the algae consume so much oxygen that fish are forced to flee or asphyxiate to death.
via :: STLtoday and :: MSNBC
Corn Ethanol
Common BioFuel Myth: Corn-Based Ethanol to Blame for Global Food Shortages
Green Basics: Ethanol
Food Fight: Is Corn Food or Fuel?
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Corn ethanol has got to be the worst alternate fuel ever used. Tons of energy is required to plant, ferterlize, maintain, harvest and haul to the refinery. But the Agro-Lobby has congress doing their bidding-and that ain't going to change anytime soon.
Ditto what shigley said. We produce enough useable waste but it just ends up in the landfills of our world rather than being converted to fuel.
I don't see the relationship. It's very speculative. This assumes that this corn would not be grown except as fuel, and whatever else would be planted would not contribute to fertilizer run-off. Sounds very biased. Any matter, the blame goes to unsustainable farming practices, whether to feed your family or fuel the Suburban.
As far as this being 'speculative', the land planted to corn has increased by over 17% (14 million acres) since the interest in bioethanol has blossomed. Much of that has come from land that normally would be rotated to soybean or left fallow as part of a conservation program. So, the push for ethanol does, indeed, lead to an increase in heavily-fertilized corn land. However, while it may seem logical to assume that an increase in corn leads directly to an increase in the 'Dead Zone', it is disingenuous to say so after a single year of observation. First, the increase in farm land is not the only variable to consider, as the amount of rainfall also contributes to runoff, and the Mississippi River Basin is experiencing its heaviest rains since 1993. And second, there is usually a lull of about 5 years between fertilizer application and runoff, and 5 years ago land planted to corn had not yet increased. So, while it may seem simple to jump to the conclusion reached in the article, it would be improper to do so. The professor from LSU should know that as well.
Corn has massively increased in ratio planting versus others in the last few years. The amount of money farmers can get in subsidies is just too big to overlook.
The fertilizer runoff can occur in under a year with enough rain and no attention paid to nearby water sources. Some of the chemical fertilizers used nowadays have very high soluble rates that will allow them to basically flow right off in the first rainy season. Others do take a while (up to five years) but there are enough out there to do some contamination rather quickly.
I get this feeling that we (the planet) are screwed either way. All of this Biofuel Kills People and Nature, Bush/McCain say drill the oceans reads like a Comedy of the Apocalypse. People always are saying the end is nigh and in fact the end of whatever they fear is ending is always nigh.
The Republican party is split almost in half over Energy decisions and direction.
I learned of this Gulf Dead Zone while watching a Republican Rep testifying to the House on C-Span, He is completely and totally against Corn Based Ethanol farming due to pollution.
I live in Palm Beach County Florida and you should read about the disaster in Bryant Florida with US Sugar and its Ethanol plan.
Politics and Energy should not be allowed to mix.
Politics should be 'for the people'.
To add to the Republican Party split, off shore drilling is splitting this party in half.
Why would we institute a temporary fix to an unsolvable problem of Oil Peak.
We will run out of Oil, new drilling is a sick idea and the only benefit would be to subdue a restless crowd demanding immediate answers.
The only answer to our Energy and Economy Crisis is Clean Green Energy Independence; Off the Grid, with residential not commercial Wind and Solar, Biomass, Fuel Cell and Hybrid technologies. sponsored by the United States Federal Government.
That's my story and I'm sticking with it.
Let's stop allowing Big Energy and Big Politics to dictate our well being.
No matter what your views are, please Vote in 2008.
Big problem here is non rotation of crops. Cheap nitrogen is used instead of rotating in Soy beans with a nurse crop of rye grass or alphalpha. I believe this is part of the way the government program is set up, you have to plant corn over and over and over. If they used crop rotation and accepted mildly lower yeilds we would not have these dead zones at the mouths of rivers.
I am curious to find out if anyone has measured the weight density of algae per acre or square mile? If so, what would that number be?