Louisiana falls near the end of the Mississippi River’s journey. As the Mississippi River flows through the heart of America, it passes through the Corn Belt. Crops such as corn and soybeans can require a lot of fertilizer but in many cases, the fertilizer is not used by the plants and ends up running off into the local river or stream. The excess fertilizer moves into the Gulf and feeds algae; this creates large algal blooms every spring. As the algae dies it uses oxygen in the water creating a Dead Zone, an area in the Gulf of Mexico where life cannot exist because there is little oxygen in the water. It sometimes grows to the size of New Jersey!
Louisiana takes most of the hit when the Dead Zone kills the fish and shellfish in the Gulf of Mexico. Many of the people living along the coast make their living from fishing the waters of the Gulf and when the Dead Zone is around it kills the fish in the area and the fisherman are not able to make a living off dead fish.
Even though Louisiana is greatly affected by the Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico, the state refuses to list it on the Impaired Water List. The Impaired Water List was created by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to list bodies of water, parts of rivers or streams that are not up to water quality standards. The standards require that the water is swimmable, fishable and drinkable. To most environmentalists, putting the Gulf on the Impaired Water List seems like a no-brainer but to Louisiana, it doesn’t make sense. If on the List, Louisiana will be charged with the task of cleaning up the Dead Zone but because the bulk of the Dead Zone is caused by northern states, Louisiana officials feel that putting the burden on them would be costly and unfair. If Louisiana were to list the Dead Zone, state officials would be required to create a plan to reduce the amount of pollution runoff into the Mississippi River, but even a dramatic decrease in pollution input by Louisiana would not make a dent. Decreasing the size of the Dead Zone requires a multi-state regulation to reduce the amount of pollution and fertilizer runoff into the Mississippi River.
One small thing that we can do is reduce the amount of fertilizer we put on our lawns and gardens. You can also tell your representative how you feel on this issue. Standing up for the Gulf can be done by telling your representative to support the RESTORE Act. This Act would ensure that the Gulf states, including Louisiana, will have the funds to fix environmental issues they have control over, such as clean-up from environmental disasters like the 2010 BP oil spill. After all, if they don’t know your feelings, how can they make the changes that are necessary to protect our environment? No matter whether in armchairs or in wading boots, we are one nation and 1 Mississippi.