Approximately 95% of the ethanol being produced in the U.S. is currently being made from feed corn, on prime food-production land, heavily fertilized and treated with pesticides and herbicides. This is just plain stupid.

Make ethanol from grass on marginal prairie land, mesquite pods in the Southwest, cattails in the wet Northwest, sugar cane waste in Hawaii -- whatever grows best with the least water and fewest additional nutrients (or use local sewage), and sell it locally. Make it from hemp and kenaf. Make it from corn stover.

Southerners can make ethanol with a plant that currently makes over seven million acres of land in the south totally useless, and doesn't require any fertilization or irrigation; it grows a foot a day, 60 feet per season, and can be harvested twice a year. KUDZU!

Then, run the distilleries with the product they're producing, not petroleum. And don't say a WORD about using ethanol made on the same property not being as efficient as purchased/imported/delivered petroleum. If that's what you're thinking, you need to look up the definition of "efficient".

Use good farmland for food production and keep it that way.

Sue