Corn demand takes toll on Gulf

Because of rising demand for ethanol, American farmers are growing more corn than at any time since World War II. And sea life in the Gulf of Mexico is paying the price. The nation's corn crop is fertilized with millions of pounds of nitrogen-based fertilizers. When that nitrogen runs off fields in agricultural states, it makes its way to the Mississippi River and eventually pours into the Gulf, where it contributes to a growing "dead zone" - a 7,900- square -mile patch, the size of the State of New Jersey, so depleted of oxygen that fish, crabs and shrimp suffocate. With the demand for corn booming, some researchers fear the dead zone will expand rapidly with devastating consequences. "We might be close to a tipping point," said Matt Rota, "The ecosystem might change or collapse as opposed to being just impacted." By Henry C. Jackson, Associated Press writer. Here we go, the senate just passed a new energy law to save the earth by boosting the production of ethanol but the by product is going to kill the Gulf. The fertilizers that help the corn grow is the chief factor causing the dead zone. And now we are going to plant more corn and cause more death in the Gulf of Mexico. The most notorious dead zone on earth. You can research this by googling Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone. I believe where ever their is a positive their is a negative. A coin has a heads so it must have a tails. We look at the positives of corn, ethanol, and only the negatives of oil. We need to think with our heads and not our hearts. The State of Florida don't want us to drill off their coast, they want to save the beauty of their coast. Maybe this new fuel will just kill their coast. Remember the dead zone off the coast of the State of Louisiana is the size of the State of New Jersey. Let's just drill for oil and the trees will take of the environment.