Environmental news roundup – corn killing Gulf, Canada banning dirty coal

More ethanol fuel could increase Gulf of Mexico dead zone

The “why” is simple. More corn means more fertilizer washing down the Mississippi, increasing a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. Simon Donner says that would spell “environmental disaster” for the Gulf.

Donner, a geographer at the University of British Columbia in western Canada, and Chris Kucharik of the University of Wisconsin used computer models to conclude that growing enough corn to meet US biofuel goals set for 2022 would cause a boost of 10 to 34 percent in nitrogen pollution in the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers, which run into the Gulf of Mexico. …

The authors predict the only way nitrate pollution could be controlled and ethanol targets met would be if American farmers stop raising meat animals on corn and dramatically change agricultural management techniques.

Well, ANY president leading the charge on that is about as real as any president leading the charge on global warming.

Canada plans carbon capture and dirty coal ban

Looks like Ottawa is ahead of us. Both plans go into effect in 2012. But the plan has loopholes:

For example, while oil companies will be required to cap carbon emission per barrel of oil, the number of barrels of oil produced will not be limited, leading to a spike in overall CO2 emissions, if production continues to rise, (enivironmentalists) say.

That is a loophole, indeed, especially depending on how much of the process on oil sands gets included in the cap.