Energy to be free.

• Author: Bartenhagen, Chuck
• Position: Letter to the Editor

Jaffe's facts on ethanol are plain wrong. Most American vehicles are not equipped to use E85 fuel. They are equipped to burn E10, which is 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent unleaded. All auto manufacturers now approve of the use of E10 fuels in their vehicles. There are fewer number of "flex-fuel" vehicles manufactured that have the ability to burn up to 85 percent ethanol. These vehicles can use any unleaded fuel from 0 to 85 percent (E85) fuel ethanol.

If E85 costs at least $2.20 per gallon, as Jaffe states, why then is it being sold to the consumer at prices as low as 85 cents per gallon? In general, you will find that E85 is priced at or below (in many cases) the price of regular unleaded at the fuel pump.

The primary reason for Jaffe's incorrect facts may be that he was misinformed by one of his sources. Cornell agricultural economist David Pimentel has been proven Wrong again and again by the ethanol industry as well as new government studies. Misinformation is the problem that the ethanol industry faces. You are perpetuating the same myths that cause some to dismiss ethanol as a non-viable alternative to our dependence on foreign oil.

Chuck Bartenhagen

Via email

Sam Jaffe responds: Using ethanol for fuel takes advantage of one of the least efficient methods of harnessing the...