In the off chance that you were looking for yet another example of just how terribly screwed up our national energy policy is, consider this fact: as bad as BP's oil spill was, it may not have caused any more long-term damage to the Gulf than has corn-based ethanol. Corn-based ethanol, the federally subsidized biofuel, is largely responsible for the Gulf of Mexico's 7,500 square mile dead zone -- the second-largest dead-zone in the world. San Francisco Chronicle:
While the BP oil spill has been labeled the worst environmental catastrophe in recent U.S. history, a biofuel is contributing to a Gulf of Mexico "dead zone" the size of New Jersey that scientists say could be every bit as harmful to the gulf.
Each year, nitrogen used to fertilize corn, about a third of which is made into ethanol, leaches from Midwest croplands into the Mississippi River and out into the gulf, where the fertilizer feeds giant algae blooms. As the algae dies, it settles to the ocean floor and decays, consuming oxygen and suffocating marine life.
Known as hypoxia, the oxygen depletion kills shrimp, crabs, worms and anything else that cannot escape. The dead zone has doubled since the 1980s and is expected this year to grow as large as 8,500 square miles and hug the Gulf Coast from Alabama to Texas.
As to which is worse, the oil spill or the hypoxia, "it's a really tough call," said Nathaniel Ostrom, a zoologist at Michigan State University. "There's no real answer to that question."
The Chronicle reports:
- Corn-based ethanol is heavily subsidized by the federal government, including a 51 cent per gallon tax credit. Ethanol receives two-thirds of all subsidies for renewable fuels, costing nearly $20 billion between 2005 and 2009.
- In large part thanks to federal subsidies, farms growing exclusively corn or soybeans have replaced diversified farms. This has led to an explosion in the use of fertilizer and pesticides and now more nitrates come from corn-production than from any other crop. Those nitrates leech into the Gulf of Mexico, causing the algae blooms that lead to the dead zones.
- The dead zone has doubled in size since the 1980s.
- Currently, 10% of gas must consist of ethanol. The EPA is considering raising that requirement to 15%. In 2007, Congress enacted legislation that will triple ethanol output, including refineries in every state.
- There are more environmentally friendly alternatives to corn-based ethanol, but thanks to the subsidies for corn-based ethanol, they will never be used.
Of course, as bad as ethanol is, it doesn't let BP off the hook, not for one minute. After all, BP stands to claim $600 million in federal subsidies this year alone for ethanol production. So for BP, it's been a real twofer -- they've not only devastated the Gulf region with their oil spill, they're also one of the biggest contributors to the ethanol problem.
continued at Daily Kos...
