Ethanol not as Environmentally Friendly as Claimed.

The continual push of ethanol as an alternative fuel for our nation’s vehicles has another twist. It appears experts didn’t take into account that ethanol might be an environmentally dangerous industry to our sea life.

Yes, ethanol, praised as an environmentally excellent alternative as a gasoline additive might be an ecological nightmare for fish, crab, oyster and shrimp in the Gulf of Mexico.

Now it has already been admitted that the soaring price of meats and groceries is because of the ethanol explosion. Corn hovering at $2 a bushel for years is trading as high as $4.50 on the futures market today. The commodity has nowhere to go but still higher as ethanol plants begin blossoming up around the Midwest like dandelions in our yards each spring.

The costly additive, which won’t survive without huge tax subsidies, also appears to be far less friendly than the “green" allies of the additive have publicized. Ethanol which replaces the fuel additive MTBE does produce fewer hydrocarbons into the atmosphere than the previous additive did. MTBE has been linked as a carcinogen and ethanol backers are quick to point out the cleaner burn ethanol is eco-friendly. That is a positive for our atmosphere but it is now apparent there is an ecological tradeoff that again the experts did not see coming.

The chain of events should have been obvious. Corn in high demand became a crop of choice for Midwestern farmers. Rather than rotate production year to year between corn, soybeans and other crops, farmers went where the gold was at and continued to plant corn each year. The crop which requires nitrogen based fertilizers doesn’t hold the fertilizer as well as beans and other crops so with rain; runoff of the nitrogen into the Mississippi river occurs.

These nitrogen based fertilizers eventually make their way into the Gulf of Mexico where they assist in the formation of algae. This algae, when it dies and decomposes, depletes the oxygen in the water thus making it impossible for sea creatures to exist in the area.

Scientists currently state that a Dead Zone in the Gulf at the mouth of the Mississippi is now a monstrous 7,900-square-mile area where no sea life can exist.This is especially destructive to oysters and crabs who can’t swim away fast enough when they begin to starve for oxygen in the zone.

The fishing industry in the Gulf states they now have to go further and further out to sea to find catches which causes expenses, such as fuel, to rise. This means many of our sea products will continue to go up in price due to the expansion of ethanol production.

With 2007 corn production at its highest level since World War II, it is likely more nitrogen based fertilizer is making its way into the Gulf every day with environmentalists believing that the region is fast approaching a tipping point where marine life will begin to die off in numbers that will take decades to recover if they do at all.

It is becoming obvious ethanol isn’t what proponents have made it out to be. It takes more than a gallon of fuel to make a gallon of ethanol so how can that help our dependence on foreign oil. It costs so much that without heavy tax supports it cannot exist as an industry so how is it good for the economy. It also is becoming obvious it isn’t good for the environment so the claims of ethanol being good for our eco system are not true either.

Ethanol with its huge lobby of agricultural alliances is firmly entrenched in Washington and there seems to be no turning back in continuing this costly path down a fallacy filled world of fuel alternatives.

Not until something terrible happens I would imagine. Not until we have spent billions walking down the wrong road.

Comment by Danny Davids^(13,038) (134 days 5 hours ago.)