Special letter: Stop subsidizing costly alternative fuel

The Sept. 29 article "Carmakers fight hike in ethanol at pump" should be titled instead "Corn states looking for more federal funds to back inefficient costly fuels." It has long been proven that ethanol is a horrible additive, or replacement, for gasoline:

• Ethanol causes all sorts of corrosion in the fuel systems, even when they're designed for it. Ethanol traps water, the leading cause of corrosion in darn near everything. Even vehicles designed to run on E85 (85 percent ethanol) get damaged by E10 and E15 over time.

• Ethanol is not nearly as powerful (in British thermal units) as gasoline, meaning engines have to burn much more ethanol than gas to go the same distance.

• There is nowhere near enough commercial vegetation grown in the USA to convert into enough ethanol to supply E85 for everyone.

• A solid percentage of our ethanol is imported.

Please stop this expensive ethanol-is-good myth. Let's squelch this taxpayer pork-barrel joke once and for all.

Arpad Miklos , Warren