Expanding "alternative" energies would not be alternative if they worked ("Expand energy alternatives," June 30), they would be just energy sources. Biofuels right now are a greater threat to the planet than the exploration for, and drilling of, petroleum, wherever it happens to be. It already has caused rises in the worldwide cost of food and is increasing the deforestation of vast areas as farmers rush to grow more of these cash crops. How ethanol, which has less energy than gasoline or diesel, can solve the energy crisis is beyond me.

If solar, wind power and biofuels are so great, they would not need the massive, taxpayer funded subsidies they now enjoy. As for nuclear energy, the reason it has been expensive (only in the United States, by the way) is because of the litigation thrown at any proposal to build a new plant. If the environmentalists would get out of the way, nuclear power would be the cheapest we could get - and maybe we could get rid of those useless, ugly wind turbines.