Number: 2000-13
WHEREAS, the Mississippi River Watershed stretches from the continental divide to the Appalachian Mountains, or about 40 percent of the United States; and
WHEREAS, the Mississippi River carries a very heavy load of silt, pesticides, fertilizer, and other chemicals; and
WHEREAS, an estimated 1.75 million tons of nitrogen are added to the entire river annually; and
WHEREAS, the Upper Mid-West corn belt has been found to be the major contributor to the problem; and
WHEREAS, the pollution of the Mississippi River has caused a low-oxygen “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico that reached a record 7,728 square miles in July, 1999; and
WHEREAS, this “dead zone” was consistently twice as large in the 1993-1997 period as compared to the 1985-1992 period; and
WHEREAS, agriculture and urban runoff are the leading contributors of fertilizer to the Mississippi River, which is the main cause of this “dead zone”; and
WHEREAS, the Minnesota, Illinois and Missouri rivers are three of the major contributors to the pollution problems of the Mississippi River;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation in its Annual Meeting assembled March 16-18, 2000, in Seattle, Washington, supports an accelerated cleanup of the Mississippi River, by reducing the amount of fertilizer and other chemicals which are deposited into the river directly and through its tributaries; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the National Wildlife Federation urges Congress to focus funding efforts on halting further pollution of the Mississippi River and its tributaries, and toward educating residents of the Mississippi watershed on ways to eliminate pollution.