BIOMASS HUB

The NY Times uncovered the dirty truth about the health of the Gulf Coast this weekend, which due to hypoxia linked to nitrogen runoff from corn production in the U.S. Midwest, is hardly pristine. Writing about five environmental challenges in the Gulf, Bill Marsh explains:

The Gulf, like almost all large bodies of water, must balance industry and recreation, fishing and development. It provides up to one-third of the country’s commercial fishing and shellfish — along with 27 percent of its domestically produced oil and 20 percent of domestic natural gas. Mexico, too, with its big oil industry and growing population, puts its own stresses on the Gulf.

The map below shows the extent of 2009 hypoxia in the Gulf and the extent of the BP oil spill in 2010.

Nathanael Greene, writing for NRDC’s Switchboard blog, adds:

Given the double whammy that corn ethanol and oil impose on the Gulf coast, it is particularly ironic that corn ethanol’s top priority is extending a tax credit–the volumetric ethanol excise tax credit–that lines the pockets of the oil industry and corn ethanol to the tune of $5.4 billion per year.