To the editor:

Thanks to Christine Metz for her series of articles on the diversion of federal funds from the Efficiency Kansas loan program. Three questions still need to be answered.

1. Why did the state and Department of Energy suddenly pull the rug out from under the stakeholders in a functioning program without giving them a chance to be heard?

2. Why did they jerk away nearly all the money now, in July, instead of leaving enough to keep the program going until the April 1 deadline?

3. How can this money be spent on the new projects by April 1 if they first have to do environmental reviews?

For the most part, the money is being diverted to corporations tinkering with biomass fuels. These fuels, especially ethanol, are known to yield minimal net energy gains. There’s an odor lifting off this deal, and it’s not from all that manure they will be stirring around with taxpayer money.