U.S. May Free Up More Land for Corn Crops By Dan Gill for The New York TimesJune 21, 2008CHICAGO - Signs are growing that the government may allow farmers to plant crops on millions of acres of conservation land, while a chorus of voices is also pleading with Washington to cut requirements for ethanol production.Kirk [...]

This year's dead zone could be largest ever recorded By WAFB Channel 9June 18, 2008 05:33 PM CDT NEW ORLEANS, LA (WAFB) - This year's dead zone, an area that has little marine life because of a lack of oxygen in the Gulf of Mexico, could become the largest one ever recorded. A growing dead [...]

Times-Picayune EDITORIAL: Dead zone dead endMonday, June 23, 2008 Scientists expect to see the largest-ever dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico this summer -- 10,000 square miles -- because spring flooding has sent more nutrient pollution than usual down the Mississippi River. But even though the dead zone is breaking records, there's no corresponding [...]

2008 Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone Could Be Largest EverNEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, June 18, 2008As a record-breaking volume of floodwater laden with sewage and fertilizers rolls down the waterways of the Mississippi Basin towards the Gulf of Mexico, a joint federal-state task force released an updated action plan to reduce low oxygen levels that cause [...]

Dead zone threatens Miss., too Oxygen-poor water off La. may spread this way, killing marine life By JUSTIN FRITSCHERJACKSON.GANNETT.COM; JUNE 23, 2008A big problem in Louisiana may be drifting into Mississippi waters. It's invisible, and Mississippi coastal experts say they may not have the manpower to detect it.The dead zone, an area of oxygen-depleted water [...]

Some coastal woes begin far inland By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | Staff Writer of The Christian Science MonitorJune 24, 2008In the early 1970s, Earl "Rusty" Butz, the US secretary of Agriculture, urged American farmers to plant crops "fencerow to fencerow." "Get big or get out," he told them. Farm subsidies followed and, as many small farms [...]

Flood, size of gulf dead zone linked Extra farm runoff in the Mississippi to increase area with no oxygenAssociated Press; June 21, 2008 WASHINGTON - Floodwaters loaded with farm runoff are heading down the Mississippi River, and scientists fear that the deluge will sharply increase the expected dead zone this summer in the Gulf of [...]

Dead-zone problem needs real solutionDaily Advertiser.com; June 13, 2008http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080613/OPINION01/806130329 It has been more than seven years since a special task force pledged to reduce the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico to a quarter of its size by 2015. That goal is no longer realistic.We seem to be moving away from a solution rather [...]

Another Problem with Biofuels? By Bryan WalshTime.com; Mar 12, 2008http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1721693,00.html?iid=sphere-inline-sidebar It's called the dead zone. Agricultural fertilizer byproducts like nitrogen are running off farms and into the Mississippi River, which then spills out into the Gulf of Mexico. Those chemicals help feed crops on land, but as they build up in the still, warm waters [...]

The Gulf's Growing 'Dead Zone' By Bryan WalshTime.com; June 17, 2008http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1815305,00.html The American Midwest is essentially the granary of the world, supplying corn, wheat and other crops to markets from Chile to China. But all that food doesn't grow by itself. In 2006 U.S. farmers used more than 21 million tons of nitrogen, phosphorus and [...]