Monday, March 10, 2008

More Unintended Consequences From the Dumbest Idea Ever

The extra fertilizer resulting from increased corn production will increase the anoxic "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico as the nutrient load makes its way through the Mississippi basin and out into the ocean.
Each summer, the export of nitrogen creates a large “Dead Zone” in the Gulf of Mexico, a region of oxygen-deprived waters that are unable to support aquatic life. In recent years, it has reached over 20,000 km2 in size, which is equivalent to the area of New Jersey.

Donner and Kucharik’s findings suggest that if the U.S. were to meet its proposed ethanol production goals, nitrogen loading by the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico would increase by 10-19 per cent.
Dumb. Really dumb.

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