Report says ethanol may fuel dead zone

Clean Gulf of Mexico needs bigger cuts in nitrogen fertilizer use, report says

Shrinking that dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico will be much more costly than first thought.

A group of scientists that looked at the problem during the Clinton administration targeted agricultural runoff in the Midwest as the main source of the problem and called for a 30 percent reduction in the amount of nitrogen flowing into the Gulf.

A new panel of scientists believes it’s going to take a far bigger reduction in nitrogen than that, on the order of 45 percent, according to a draft report.

And even that is not going to be enough. The scientists say that a second chemical, phosphorus, which comes from city sewage systems as well as farms, also needs to be reduced. By 40 percent.

Moreover, the report says that biofuels will likely make the problem worse, because of the increase in corn acreage and use of nitrogen fertilizer needed to keep with the demand for ethanol.

Encouraging more production of corn-based ethanol, in fact, “could nullify other efforts” to reduce the dead zone, the scientists say.

Des Moines Register