Report says increase in biofuels use will lead to larger Gulf of Mexico “Dead Zone”

In Pennsylvania, researchers are reporting that the scheduled increases in the use of biofuels will likely lead to increased levels of hypoxia in the “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico. The primary cause of the dead zone is a giant algae bloom fed by nutrient runoff from the Mississippi River, in turn caused by the use of nitrate fertilizers on “biofuel crops such as corn, soy, switch grass and stover (corn stems and leaves)”.

The report, which will appear in the October 1 issue of Environmental Science & Technology, noted that the “dead zone” is now the size of the state of massachusetts and that the government has set a goal of reducing the size significantly by 2015.

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