Ethanol From Sugar Cane

The Jan. 27 front page article "A Culinary and Cultural Staple in Crisis; Mexico Grapples With Soaring Prices for Corn -- and Tortillas" described the effect on the Mexican economy of the high price of corn, ostensibly because of its use for ethanol.

Recently there have been several articles on the booming corn-based ethanol industry that is expected to reduce our dependence on oil. Last year there was an article about the use of ethanol in Brazil to replace about 40 percent of the country's gasoline requirements.

In Brazil, ethanol is produced from sugar cane. In the United States, sugar cane producers receive millions of dollars in subsidies, but I have not read anything about the use of sugar cane for producing ethanol.

Wouldn't the use of sugar cane be an effective solution to our need to supplement petroleum usage, and wouldn't it eliminate the need for subsidizing the sugar cane growers? It seems that something is wrong with our energy planning and that much money is being thrown away needlessly.

JON C. MCKENZIE

Fairfax