It looks to be that you can get just about twice the amount of energy by going the cellulose route, and greenhouse emissions are very small.

It is not a massive savings, not like putting in 10 percent energy and getting out 100 percent. We find it is somewhat better than gasoline, but it's not a home run.

We found unequivocally that it does not take more energy than you get out of the amount of ethanol. So it's a net good if you grow ethanol and use it.

Converting to fuel ethanol will not require a big change in the economy. We are already ethanol ready. If ethanol were available on the supply side, the demand is there.

It will either be a wonderful way to access some of the country's best renewable resources or, under cover of environmental rhetoric, foster a whole new generation of dirty plants. No one can say for sure right now how this will go.

It's really too bad. What we're seeing is sort of the backpedaling that undermines these commitments.