John Stossel replies to me.......

I want to begin by thanking the member of Mr. Stossel's staff for replying to me. I know they have a lot to do and are busy, and no, I'm not being facetious. Here it is:

Hi Chris,

If those alternatives to corn ethanol work, then shouldn't they be profitable? In that case, hopefully we will be seeing them soon. Thanks for writing in,

Maxim Lott
Stossel Unit

So I replied:

They are profitable now, and that's under the current set of circumstances. Imagine how much more profitable when they renovate our pipeline infrastructure, so that they can carry ethanol without corroding. In fact, on January 14th, ScienceDaily.com posted an article showing that a University of Nebraska-Lincoln study on ethanol from switchgrass showed that switchgrass not only has a much higher ethanol yield than corn does, but also it produces "540% more energy than needed to grow."

Further, ethanolproducer.com recently posted an article on their website about a solid waste plant in Gary, Indiana that will convert garbage into gasoline and will save taxpayers $12 million a year in landfill fees. It willl also create 120 jobs.

Lastly, why does Mr. Stossel (whom I've always had great respect for, I loved his "Sick in America") not mention that the domestic oil industry is subsidized? Is oil, therefore, worthless and no good? Thank you for replying to me.