Letter: Is ethanol really the answer?

The enthusiasm for ethanol is not recognizing that it will do far less for oil independence than hoped.

1. It takes about one gallon of petroleum-based fuel to manufacture 1.3 gallons of ethanol.

2. It takes about 11 gallons of ethanol to travel the same distance as 10 gallons of petroleum.

3. Each gallon of ethanol is subsidized by 50 cents.

Neil Thomas

Willmar