Holy Smoke! A Road Worrier column on the risk of hurting our cars with ethanol drew bushels of rebuttals from corn country, and from local ethanol admirers. (See the column with online comments, and a letter from an ethanol industry rep.)

I wrote the column simply to warn drivers of non-flex-fuel cars about the risk of putting E85 fuel (85 percent ethanol) in their tanks by mistake. Be careful!

But it was read differently by ethanol boosters. Here's one of a few dozen responses, from Bob Rice:

I can’t believe anyone at this period in time would produce such a negative opinion piece regarding bio-fuels. While ethanol from corn may have some efficiency issues vs. ethanol from other bio-mass sources it is still in fact represents a physical net gain in available BTU’s and a smaller overall carbon foot print. ... I really think the News and Observer owes its reader an apology for such an inaccurate and misleading headline.

Why the fuss? This little issue – avoiding accidental damage to cars – should have nothing to do with the pros and cons of ethanol.

Nothing to do with energy independence, carbon footprints and clean air, ... [MORE]

The campaign to pump more and more ethanol into our cars is fueled by a conspiracy of good intentions -- the Corn Belt agribiz lobby, the environmental lobby, and the political powers who listen to them.

It might seem hard to argue against renewable energy, reduced greenhouse emissions and reduced fossil fuel imports. But there are powerful arguments on both sides of the ethanol issue.

Admittedly, today's Road Worrier column gave scant space to these big questions. Instead, it focused narrowly on the risks of pumping E85 (85% ethanol) into a car that simply can't stomach it. (Read today's Road Worrier, with lots of reader comments.)

In fact, most of our cars can't run on E85. But most drivers are not aware that E85 can damage our cars, and that we easily can put it into our cars by mistake. The words "warning" and "damage" do not appear in the advisory labels on E85 pumps.

In addition to comments posted online with today's column -- many of them sarcastic attacks on clueless car owners, evil ethanol, or Al Gore -- I received e-mail from the ethanol industry, from another driver who damaged his car with E85, and from other folks. I'd like to hear more.

Below are the addresses of Triangle-area E85 stations, and links to online resources on E85, flex-fuel cars and renewable fuels.

First, this note from an ethanol industry executive. Phil Lampert, marketing vice president for Growth Energy Inc. of Jefferson, MO, comes down hard on the careless motorist who puts E85 into a non-flex fuel car. He seems to favor punitive action ... [MORE]