Aug 29 2008
The Ethanol Fuel Boondoggle, Part IV: Driving Cars, Killing Fish
It’s been a long, hot week here, preparing for a month-long business trip to India. With Gustav bearing down on the oil-producing region of the Gulf, I’m quickly reminded that the recent drop in gasoline prices is reversible.
More “pressure” to consider ethanol in the renewable energy mix that candidate Obama spoke about as he accepted the Democratic nomination last night.
Sorry, folks, it still won’t work. One hurricane’s over-leveraged effect on oil & gas prices won’t make ethanol viable. Besides the elements discussed in previous posts in this series, there are other issues to consider.
The problem’s larger than you think. It’s also different than you might think.
Ethanol has been touted as an “environmentally friendly” fuel, recycling carbon from the air rather than releasing fresh carbon from fossil fuels. The actual balance is not well understood, and overall reduced carbon emissions is in dispute.
That’s not the problem. Fish are the problem.
Or rather, missing and dead fish are the problem.
You see, cultivation of corn in America is killing the oceans. It’s a linkage that isn’t widely publicized. It’s a connection that will harm us all, much more than any small net differences in carbon footprint ever can help.
First, some facts, all found quickly using web searches:
- High concentrations of nitrogen (nitrate) fertilizers cause anaerobic dead zones in coastal waters.
- Nitrogen fertilizer use is up 4x in 40 years, while other nutrients are applied at approximately stable quantities during the same period.
- Corn uses 70% of the nitrogen fertilizers applied for major U.S. crops.
- A large percentage of nitrates run off into our lakes and streams, and then into the coastal regions.
- Maine lobster catches are down 70% in just one year.
- Salmon catches are down 80% from California to British Columbia.
- The largest dead zone is at the mouth of the Mississippi, and growing.
Not all of the fishery issues are caused solely by nitrogen-driven dead zones, but even if overfishing is stopped, fisheries may not be able to recover due to oxygen-starved waters.
So corn agriculture is a major cause of the dead zones. If we expand corn growing by as little as 10%, we will get up to 30% larger dead zones. And they’re growing fast enough as it is.
Okay, so we find a way to fix dead zones, right? If only it were so simple. Unless you get a massive turnover of water, such as caused by a hurricane, the anaerobic dead zones have amazing persistence. And even one hurricane can’t eliminate the problem, should we stop using fertilizers. By the way, what are the chances we quit using nitrogen fertilizers anytime soon?
There are now over 240 dead zones along our coast. If we lose the ocean, we lose life on the planet.
So it seems Prof. Pimentel may have been right after all; corn for ethanol removes food from the supply. Just not the direct way he believes.
You gotta ask, is driving our cars on ethanol worth that?
Seeya ‘Round the Ol’ (Shrinking) Fishing Hole…
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