Corn As a Fuel Having Serious Side Effects

Ethanol, a fuel made from corn, is playing a significant role in our nation's energy policy, and the growth of corn-based ethanol production raises serious questions about its impact on the environment. It takes 1.2 gallons of fossil fuel to produce 1 gallon of ethanol from corn (including the use of fossil fuels for fertilizer, tractor fuel, ethanol plant operation, among other factors). Run-off from all that fertilizer is having a serious impact.

A recent article by the Associated Press reports:

"Because of rising demand for ethanol, American farmers are growing more corn than at any time since the Depression. 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 fertilizer. And when that nitrogen runs off fields in Corn Belt 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 so depleted of oxygen that fish, crabs and shrimp suffocate."

Read the complete article.