Fueling the Future
I am skeptical of ethanol having a significant positive impact on our nation's energy strategy ["Is Ethanol the Answer?" February 12]. Ethanol amounts to just 2.9 percent of gasoline by energy content, and last year's astounding growth gobbled up 20 percent of the U.S. corn crop. This is not the way to reduce our dependence on foreign energy. It is likely to increase it as resources and subsidies coming out of taxpayers' pockets are diverted to a technology with limited potential. As for benefiting the iconic American farmer, ethanol is driving up costs for dairy farmers, meat and egg producers, and consumers.
DAVID BARCOMB
Fort Edward, N.Y.
Corn-based ethanol is not the solution to our energy problems. Switchgrass has greater long-term potential. It does not require annual planting and can be grown with less fertilizer and pesticide on land too eroded for corn or soybeans. Millions of acres of land in the conservation pool-with landowners paid by the federal government not to grow crops-would be excellent sources for ethanol-producing grasses. The powerful farm lobby seems determined to use only corn for ethanol. Energy independence is too vital to allow special interests to prevent it.
CARROL L. FRY
Maryville, Mo.
I want to emphasize that Brazil is no longer dependent on oil. The country has created a major ethanol industry and produces a superior product: sugar cane-based ethanol. In fact, Brazil exports its ethanol, except the United States put a tariff on the product. Why not import some and start a new industry in the southern United States and Mexico?
RICHARD W. WILKINSON
Evanston, Ill.
While the ethanol article mentioned possible drawbacks associated with increased production, it failed to mention one of the most significant. Each year, an area of the Gulf of Mexico roughly the size of New Jersey becomes so devoid of shrimp, fish, and other marine life that it is known as the dead zone. Scientists have identified agricultural fertilizers transported by the Mississippi River as the primary culprit. Because fertilizer application is likely to increase as more corn is grown, the ethanol push could further increase the size of the dead zone and spell disaster for Louisiana's $2.8 billion Gulf fishing industry. If our nation is to increase ethanol production, we must first implement policies and practices that will decrease the amount of fertilizer runoff that pollutes rivers and oceans.
JEFF GRIMES
Gulf Restoration Network
Assistant Director
Water Resources Program
New Orleans
According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution article "Ga. Plant to Turn Pine Waste Into Ethanol," Georgia is far along on the course to getting cellulosic ethanol from pine trees. Sen. Tom Harkin's statement that "investors are not investing in cellulosic plants" is not true here.
DONNA M. GAWLAS
Berkeley Lake, Ga.
There are underreported consequences of using ethanol. As a highly detergent fuel, ethanol will loosen the sludge that has built up in engines, clogging the fuel filter and fuel delivery systems. In older cars and boats, this can leave you stranded on the side of the road or dead in the water (I have experienced both). Ethanol will also pull water out of the air, creating an ethanol-water mix that separates from the gas, resulting in a rough-running engine. The electrical conductivity in ethanol can cause corrosion in aluminum gas tanks. After moving from New Hampshire, where little ethanol-blend gas was available, to Cape Cod, Mass., where all stations carry 10 percent ethanol, I spent eight months dealing with frequent engine problems, monthly fuel filter changes, and water removal from the fuel system. I finally gave up and purchased a new car, replacing a formerly great-running Toyota RAV4.
F. M. TISHKEVICH
Pocasset, Mass.
This story appears in the March 5, 2007 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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