House Panel Votes to Extend Controversial Farm Subsidies, Signaling Battle to ComeWashington Post; Wednesday, June 20, 2007; Page A09http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/19/AR2007061902068.html By Dan MorganWashington Post Staff Writer Setting the stage for a contentious congressional debate over farm subsidies, a House panel voted unanimously yesterday to extend for five years the current system of payments to farmers and rejected [...]

A Slow Demise in the Delta By U.S. Farm Subsidies Favor Big Over Small, White Over BlackWashington Post; Wednesday, June 20, 2007; Page A01http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/19/AR2007061902193.html SHELBY, Miss. -- From 2001 to 2005, the federal government spent nearly $1.2 billion in agricultural subsidies to boost farmers' incomes and invigorate local economies in this poverty-stricken region of the [...]

Gulf dead-zone efforts faulted By Federal mandates needed, activists sayTimes Picayune, Wednesday, June 13, 2007http://www.nola.com/timespic/stories/index.ssf?/base/library-127/1181714562218770.xml&coll=1By Chris Kirkham As federal and state officials met in New Orleans Tuesday to review new data about the Gulf of Mexico's growing "dead zone," environmental groups and scientists assailed them for slow progress in reducing the size of the oxygen-starved [...]

EDITORIAL: Children of the corn By Experts say that it will take decades of concerted action to reduce the size of the Gulf of Mexico dead zone, a huge area of low oxygen that forms off the coast of Louisiana each summer, killing bottom-dwelling species and chasing away shrimp and fish.Times Picayune, Tuesday, June 12, [...]

Do no (more) harm By Corn-based ethanol is the alternative fuel of choice for many politicians and investors. It's not hard to understand why.STL Today Editorial, St. Louis; 06/12/2007http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/editorialcommentary/story/73C69C348793325C862572F8000048B2?OpenDocumentEthanol's most enthusiastic backers say it promises both to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign energy sources and to provide a new market for Corn Belt farmers. [...]

Gulf's dead zone growing, despite pledge to control By There's more runoff depleting the oxygenThe Times-Picayune; Sunday, June 10, 2007By Chris Kirkhamhttp://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-8/1181455005222480.xml&coll=1 Every late spring, it forms 12 miles off the Louisiana coast and lasts for months: a sprawling, lifeless band of water known as the "dead zone." Shrimp trawlers steer clear, knowing the low [...]

Fertilizer runoff creates 'Dead Zone' in Gulf By Gulf's dead zone persists as government drags its feetSt. Louis Post-Dispatch; June 10, 2007http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/nation/story/2C2E2B3E94714DFA862572F40067DAC4?OpenDocument By  Bill Lambrecht POST-DISPATCHWASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEFWASHINGTON — There was hope for a cure down in the Louisiana bayous even as the Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone expanded like a B-movie blob. The year was [...]

More ethanol means more corn -- and more water pollutionSt. Louis Post-Dispatch; 06/10/2007http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/nation/story/F31479795E9BB910862572F5001A855A?OpenDocumentBy Bill Lambrecht POST-DISPATCH WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF CHARLESTON, Ill. — Kayaking in green algae is not Ron Easter's idea of the pleasant outing he seeks as he sets out three or four evenings a week to paddle the Embarras River in the farmlands of [...]

Why the corn boom could hurt the Gulf of Mexico By Researchers say more corn in the Midwest this year for the ethanol industry could mean more problems for the Gulf of Mexico this summer.Minnesota Public Radio; May 29, 2007http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/05/23/nitrogen/by Mark Steil, Minnesota Public Radio Researchers say more corn in the Midwest this year for [...]

Peak Soil: Why cellulosic ethanol, biofuels are unsustainable and a threat to AmericaPublished on 10 Apr 2007 by Culture Change. Archived on 13 Apr 2007 by Energy BulletinBy Alice Friedemann "The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself." - President Franklin D. Roosevelt Contents Part 1. The Dirt on Dirt.Part 2. The Poop on Ethanol: [...]