July 12, 2007
Researcher predicts larger Gulf dead zone this year
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/07/12/deadzonenumbers/?rsssource=1
by Mark Steil
A
researcher with the
In the
Brent Aulenbach, with the U.S. Geological Survey, has just
finished his annual measurement of the nitrogen in the
"Since
the springtime nitrogen loads coming down the
Aulenbach
says the amount of phosphorus entering the Gulf also increased. He says the
levels of this farm fertilizer detected this spring were 15 percent above
average.
Studies have
shown that most of the farm fertilizers entering the Gulf comes
from the
That region
is the nation's corn belt. Nitrogen is the most
important fertilizer farmers use for corn. The number of acres planted to corn this spring were up nearly
20 percent over last year, mainly to meet ethanol demand.
Environmental
groups have warned more corn means more fertilizer runoff. Donald Boesch says it's something worth studying. Boesch has researched the Gulf dead zone as head of the
"Anytime
you have one year's data all you can say is that it's an event rather than
necessarily a trend," says Boesch. "One
would want to know where the nutrients within the basin are coming from. Whether it's from the upper
Most farmers
have resisted the charge that their fertilizers are the main contributors to
the Gulf's dead zone. They say municipal waste water, lawn fertilizer and other
sources also contribute.
Bruce Noel,
who chairs the ethanol committee of the National Corn Growers Association, says
farmers are careful how they apply nitrogen and phosphorus.
"People
are going to point their fingers at corn growers. We've been taking the rap for
everything from tortilla prices in
Still ahead
is a more detailed analysis of this year's hypoxia in the