( English 213 Research Paper - Final Draft)

Putting Death in the Seas so that people can drive their SUVs.


Imagine if you will, taking a cruise or being on a charter fishing boat hundreds of miles off the coast of Florida, and all that can be seen for miles around is death. Well in some areas in the Gulf of Mexico that is what it is like. Pollution from the push for more “green” fuels has put a stranglehold on the fish and the industry that relies on them for their survival. Farmers are happy due to the rich government sponsored programs to get more corn on the market for this “green” fuel. Although moving to green fuel is good for mitigating the air pollution, it is destroying the coastal areas in the Gulf of Mexico that depend on the fishing industry because nitrogen-rich waters from corn fields increase the growth of harmful algae: there are better crops than corn to produce biomass for fuel, and even with natural weather patterns the problem still exist.

Since the beginning of the Bush administration, the President has called for a decreased dependence on foreign oil and a way to find a greener fuel. That push has led to a growth in the use of corn as bio-diesel. A growth so big that by spring 2007 it has been reported that by combining all the corn fields in North America it would be about the same size as the state of California. (Phoilpott) The lack of oversight on the farmers and loose laws has helped to create a literal trickle down effect that is damaging the streams, rivers, lakes and oceans around our nation. According to an article by Tom Phoilpott Clean Water Jacked, those responsible for the enforcement of the laws to protect our lands and waters have handed over the duty to the states and local government. Then they do not check up to ensure the law is followed. Since corn was the easy chose for many farmers, the crops get bigger. It has even gotten to the point where land that was set aside to naturally replenish itself is being used.

In 1970's the USDA made policies to have farmers plant “fencerow to fencerow.” Since that time the policy has not changed.(Phoilpott)This practice leaves no room for easements and nowhere for the nitrogen water runoff to go but out. Before all the rich government subsidies most farmers had a practice of crop rotation or planting crops that were less harmful to the ground so that it could recover. For example on four acres of land one would be left alone to naturally refresh its self and then the next season a different acre would be left untouched.

The main ingredient to get the corn to grow is synthetic nitrogen. This is due to the over farming of fields and that corn requires large amounts of nitrogen in the soil to grow. Unfortunately, most of this nitrogen is washed out of the fields and into the streams and rivers and on out to the Gulf of Mexico. When the nitrogen-rich waters along with all the other runoff from various sources along the Mississippi River reach the Gulf it mixes with the organisms at the mouths of the water outlets and serves to feed the plant organisms there. It has gotten to a point where the algae in the areas grow rapidly, die, and then fall to the sea floor. This process is known as Hypoxia. The oxygen gets depleted from the sea floor up by the decomposing of the dead algae and the organisms that consumes them. (Phoilpott, “Gulf Dead Zone”) There are many other crops that can be used to make biomass for fuel other than corn. Many have no need for the harmful chemical nitrogen.

Studies and research have and keep finding that there are better ways to make green fuel. The current technology in practice today is still just barely able to keep corn as a green fuel (Schmid). What makes it worse is that there are now plants that turn corn into ethanol using 300 tons of coal per day. This is taking a step in the backwards direction from trying to make a clean fuel. (Clayton) The companies using coal to power the facilities say it is due to the rising cost of fuel. Before they were using clean burning natural gas to power the equipment need to make the corn based ethanol. Even the big oil companies are seeing the profit in helping the research and are working with universities to find the next technological breakthroughs.(Lucas) There are better crops that produce an outstandingly higher percentage fuel rating; 30 to 100 more than corn or soy bean crops. (Gotfried) The new crop that is out producing the other standard crops is algae. The company that is working on this technology, Arizona Public Service Company (APS), plans to replicate the success of algae biomass facility built at a natural gas power plant. The location of the next experimental facility will be next to Arizona’s largest coal burning plant. It works by capturing the cO2 from the plants smoke stacks and giving it to the algae to filter and then using the harvested algae crop to supplement the coal fuel.

In Iowa recent negotiations have begun for funding an algae bio-fuel facility using the byproducts of an ethanol plant. Phase one of the projects has been authorized and more talks are going to take place with in the month of April 2008. Iowa is working with the same company as the one that helped get a plant going in Arizona. (DeWitte) Imagine the environmental impact of having algae bio-mass facilities on the roofs of factories world wide. It could open up many job opportunities and serve as an inexpensive way to lessen the carbon foot print of many heavy industrial zones across the globe. New technologies are being looked at to use more diverse bio-mass to make the ethanol fuel; like grasses, the whole corn plant, and some types of tree bark. In the State of Florida, recent plans to change zoning laws to get ethanol producing fuel plants using sugar cane waste byproducts are under way. Technology developed by a University of Florida Professor is being used in a test bio-fuel plant in Louisiana. Another test plant is on the drawing board to be put up on University property as it does not require zoning changes. If the University can prove the viability of such bio-mass to ethanol plants it will attract investors to the south and use other crops waste instead of food crops. (Salisbury)

Using cane sugar as a bio-fuel is not a new idea. In the country of Brazil, ethanol has been used in some form to run vehicles since the 1920’s. In the 1970’s Brazil was importing the majority of its oil. When the OPEC oil crisis started to happen, the government decided to find a better way. Brazil’s dictator, like our government is doing today with the corn, started financing the conversion of the entire system from oil to bio-fuels. Carmakers in the country were given incentives to produce ethanol burning vehicles and the infrastructure, like gas stations, were built to support the change over. Less than ten years later the majority of Brazilian cars were burning only one hundred percent ethanol fuel. Today most cars in Brazil can run on any bio-fuel mixture, like the E85 mix in North America where eighty-five percent is ethanol and the other fifteen is gas. With cane sugar producing over double the ethanol of corn, six to eight hundred gallons per acre, it is hard to imagin why our country does not plant sugar crops over corn. One reason is that cane sugar is more of a tropical plant, though there is some companies in south Florida working on building plants to produce the sugar based ethanol. Even though sugar looks like a big plus on the road to make green fuels it still in need of more improvements to take place. Brazil still uses the practice of burning the crops to make it easier to harvest by hand and is also contributing to the deforestation of the South American rain forest. (Bourne) While the search for better and cleaner ways to find green fuel for North America’s needs, the waters in the south are relying on an over stressed and failing ecosystem to filter out the nitrogen. Even with natural weather patterns the problems still exist.

In the last few years several hurricanes passed through the area string up every thing around. The power of those storms pushed the effected waters around but has not broken them down. The natural tides have been so over whelmed with the in flux that it is unable to wash out the junk and nitrogen. All these problems are known to the government but the policies were made a long time ago nothing is being changed about it. The problems are getting worse, known locally as Red Tide due to the type of algae in the Gulf Coast, in many costal areas the winds are blowing some of the algae toxins inland causing irritation to eyes and respiration. As well as all the dead and decomposing fish that wash up on many miles of shore every day during and after the Red Tide season. The Red Tide has many effects on the environment and local economies. Health officials are still doing studies and research on the many sources of the problems effecting humans along the coast. Testing is looking for any long term problems and if the hospital visits are a result of a decreased immune system. (Smith)

In recent years, people have begun to notice the direct effect of red tide blooms and animals getting sick. The businesses along the coast are suffering as news spread about the toxic clouds floating over beach communities causing tourism to drop. Some residents have even sold their homes and moved to get away from the coast due to health issues. The fishing industry is on the ropes due to the problems happening in the Gulf. Some boats have not gone out, most preferring to stay docked to save on gas. Many of the boats that do go out find that their once abundant fishing spots are completely void of life or just have a few bait fish. In a report about Florida billing itself as the "fishing capital of the world", (Zollo) the fishing has dried up. Many charter boats that depend on the Gulf for income have found that their best fishing spots are dead from the sea floor up. Most boats have been staying in hoping that the currents wash away the problems and look toward the Governor, Jeb Bush, to help open the door to financial aid. Some researchers are saying that there is some life out in the Gulf but for those that go looking they say it is hard to find. Counter arguments on size of dead zones, sites that were productive that are not any more.

Until the EPA or some other governmental agency steps up to limit the corn boom and the amount of nitrogen flowing into the sea, problems will continue to rise. It may take the voice of the local citizens to speak up, and call on those in office to make the changes. The technology is here today along with better crops to make better “green” fuels. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Agriculture need to make major policy changes to confront this epidemic problem facing the Gulf of Mexico. Many communities in the south are figuring out some of the contributing factors to the red tide and have started legislation to curb the effects of the human element. Corn for bio-fuel needs to be replaced with better, “greener” sources to mitigate the amount of nitrogen and fertilizer run-off from farms into the Mississippi River and other water sources. The technology is here and getting better every day and with the help of the people to push the government to accept and implement better practices to save the environment for the future. More studies need to be done to find the true cost of making Bio-fuels before jumping on a bandwagon and making things worse for those many miles away. Red tide has always been known to be a naturally occurring phenomenon in the Gulf of Mexico, but since the industrial revolution in North America the blooms have been getting larger. The ecosystem is unable to filter the harmful effects and it is happening all over the world. Make your voice heard, find out about how green “green fuels” are and their true cost to the environment. Support laws to lessen the dependency on burning fuel for energy. Start at the home and local communities to make life better for the future and the children.

Works Cited

Bourne, Joel K. Jr. (2007, October). “Green Dreams” National Geographic Magazine Retrieve May 3, 2008, from http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/10/biofuels/biofuels-text/1

Clayton, Mark. (2006, March). “Carbon Cloud over a Green Fuel.” Christian Science Monitor. Retrieve March 1, 2008, from http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0323/p01s01-sten.html

DeWitte, David (2008, April). “New source of renewable energy?” Gazette, The (Cedar Rapids, IA), Retrieve April 16, 2008, from http://web.ebscohost.com/src/detail?vid=1&hid=5&sid=a9b9fe02-9942-4c39-a392-e1dad849af1e%40sessionmgr8


Gotfried, Steven. (2007, September). “Growth Rates of Emission-Fed Algae Show Viability of New Biomass Crop.” Green Fuels. Retrieve March 1, 2008 from http://www.greenfuelonline.com/gf_files/GreenFuel%20Growth%20Rates.htm

Lucas, Marlene (2007, May). “Fueling research..” Gazette, The (Cedar Rapids, IA). Retrieve March 1, 2008 from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=12&hid=120&sid=fbd1891d-0bd7-46dd-93e1-afe51cad3828%40sessionmgr2

Phoilpott, Tom. (2007, October). “Clean water jacked.” Gristmill. Retrieved March 1, 2008 from http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/10/17/125453/97

Phoilpott, Tom. (2007, July). “Gulf Dead Zone: bigger than ever.” Gristmill. Retrieved March 1, 2008 from http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/7/16/161412/560

Salisbury, Susan. (2008, March). “Florida Crystals seeks zoning change for ethanol projects” Palm Beach Post, The (FL); Retrieve April 16, 2008 from http://web.ebscohost.com/src/detail?vid=1&hid=3&sid=8cea3595-cdcd-4e48-ad04-2be4678f87f1%40SRCSM1

Schmid, Randolph E. (2007, October). “Ethanol push could threaten water supplies.” The Globe and Mail. Retrieved March 1, 2008 from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071010.weth

Smith, Wes. (2007, May). “Red-tide illnesses studied” Orlando Sentinel, The (FL); Retrieve April 16, 2008 from http://web.ebscohost.com/src/detail?vid=2&hid=14&sid=7f811915-0881-4eb1-9119-3626d2cb73e4%40sessionmgr2

Zollo, Cathy. (2005, August). “Little left to catch in tainted Gulf.” Red Tide Alert. Retrieved March 1, 2008 from http://www.redtidealert.com/DeadZoneintheGulf.html