Letter: The place of ethanol in the county, atmosphere

In response to Richard Helmich’s letter on Sept. 14:

While it is true that burning ethanol produces similar amounts of carbon dioxide as burning gas, there’s an important difference: the carbon dioxide released from ethanol was sequestered by corn plants from the atmosphere during that growing season, while burning gas releases carbon dioxide that was previously stored underground.

I also doubt tractors and trucks that bring ethanol to us are any more gas-guzzling than equipment used to bring us our oil.

Why sow enmity between conservationists of different mindsets? Solar energy would be great, but ethanol technology is already here, and it should be encouraged.

Andrew Waymire

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Senior in LAS