To the Editor:

     I see the ethanol plant will not be built in the township of Elba and another small group of protesters got their way.
     Debbie Schilling, spokesperson for STEP 2, the group opposing the plant is gloating that it was a long battle and encourages other groups to continue to battle ethanol plants. To me it seems that Schilling, STEP 2, and all other ethanol protesters are no different than Osama bin Laden and his band of terrorist idiots who want everything their own way, want to stop progress and help ruin the economy.
     The recent events in New York and Washington, D.C. haven’t seemed to awaken these small protest groups to the fact that we as Americans need to take care of ourselves and not rely on so much foreign oil and products.   STEP 2 may have won the battle but the fight is not over yet. Ethanol is a safe, clean, and renewable energy source, grown by American farmers, manufactured by American workers all in the United States of America.
     Just recently the G.M. plant in Janesville began rolling vehicles off their new E-85 line. E-85 means the engines in the vehicles can use 85 percent ethanol and only 15 percent gasoline. Hopefully, all the other auto manufactures will follow suit.  Maybe someday Schilling and all her fellow protesters will have to revert back to a horse and buggy to get to town if they continue to fight progress. STEP 2 and all other ethanol protesters call themselves Americans --  I think not.

Harold Nitschke
Burnett

Mr. Nitschke, of Nitschke Grain Farms, Inc. of Burnett, is apparently upset because he won’t be getting the 5 cents more per bushel of corn the ethanol plant had promised to him.  His venomous diatribe against Debbie Schilling and STEP 2 as “no different than Osama bin Laden” is the worst kind of opportunism; he attempts to exploit a national tragedy to incite fear and hate and advance his position.  Mayor Gulliani said it best: “Anybody who takes advantage of an attack like this is something less than a human being”.  The vicious scare tactics of McCarthyism seem school girlish in comparison to Nitschke’s hateful invective.

The USA is the greatest country the world has ever seen, and it is our free society and tolerance of dissenting views that makes it great.  Labeling people as terrorists and unAmerican simply because they disagree with you is the antithesis of being American. The only way to dispel such darkness is to shine light upon it.  The bright light of truth sends the opportunistic cockroaches of society scuttling for cover.

Nitschke’s charge that opposing corn ethanol is unAmerican is laughable.  As the links on our website show, corn ethanol is bad for the economy, environment, and public health.  One of the most ardent foes of corn ethanol is Senator John McCain of Arizona.  Senator McCain is an ex-Air Force pilot and was a POW in North Vietnam for 5 years.  He is a legitimate American hero.  McCain has consistently opposed corn ethanol as corporate welfare and bad for America.  Recently, (9/25/01) BusinessWeek Online described corn ethanol as "unsustainable, subsidized food burning''  "gushing red ink".

Nitscke’s support for E85 vehicles is likewise misplaced.  According to Automotive Digest, these vehicles actually increase greenhouse gas emissions and dependence on foreign oil.  Detroit doesn't make these vehicles to benefit the environment or reduce dependence on foreign oil.  They make them because loopholes in the CAFE Standards allow them to make more gas-guzzling SUV’s than they would be permitted otherwise.  The actual result is increased gas consumption, greater dependence on foreign oil, and greater air pollution.

The facts are clear, ethanol is bad for America in general and Elba in particular.  But, should Mr. Nitschke be accused of being unAmerican because of his opportunistic, wrong-headed views?  No, in our great country everyone is free to state their mind, no matter how foolish.