Wednesday, August 04, 2004
Farm Pollution Killing the Gulf of Mexico
Only national-level anti-pollution regulations can stop this. States would compete against each other in a "race to the bottom" to give their respective agricultural industries an advantage.
From the BBC:
...
In the last 30 years, the dead zone has become an annual summer phenomenon, because farmers in the Mississippi watershed are using more nitrate-based fertilizers, Dr Rabalais said.
The nitrates, carried into the Gulf's warm summer waters by the river, feed algae blooms that use up oxygen and make the water inhospitable to other forms of life.
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From the BBC:
...
In the last 30 years, the dead zone has become an annual summer phenomenon, because farmers in the Mississippi watershed are using more nitrate-based fertilizers, Dr Rabalais said.
The nitrates, carried into the Gulf's warm summer waters by the river, feed algae blooms that use up oxygen and make the water inhospitable to other forms of life.
