Tell Congress: ENOUGH POSTURING. SAVE THE FISH - SAVE THE ECONOMY! Although the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is smaller than the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted, at 5,8000 sq. miles the area is still twice the size of what it was last year. Roughly the size of Connecticut, the oxygen-starved dead zone suggests that the EPA, despite the 2012 lawsuit lobbied by environmental group The Gulf Restoration Network, have not enforced new nutrient regulations. The dead zone is caused by a combination of nitrogen fertilizer, animal manure, atmospheric deposition as a result of automobiles and fossil-fueled power plants, and waste. Most of the nitrogen input comes from the farming states in Mississippi. When it rains, soil heavy with pesticides enter the Gulf of Mexico and cause algal blooms. Algae feed on the nitrogen and when they die, they drift to the bottom of the lake to be consumed by bacteria. The bacteria feed on oxygen in the water resulting in low-oxygen (hypoxic) or oxygen-free (anoxic) regions. The oxygen-starved dead zone can no longer support aquatic life. This is a huge problem, as the Gulf of Mexico is an extremely important ecological system in North America. The area is one of the most productive fisheries in the U.S. and generates $2 billion a year. In the past, environmental groups have targeted the EPA for violating the Clean Water Act. The Department of Agriculture also began to target their conservation programs aimed at reducing nutrients but those programs are being gutted by Congress. Efforts of those wishing to find a solution to the dead zone seem to be going unrewarded, and each year the area grows larger.