By George Harris, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel 2008

General Motors for years made its living by producing fuel gulping trucks and SUV's. Critics say management made bad decisions and should suffer the consequences.

Maybe. But there is more to the story.

It's also true that GM for many years has been making E85 vehicles. You may have one and not know it. All Impalas and many trucks made in the last several years are capable of burning fuel that is 85% ethanol.

Big deal, you say. Ethanol produced from corn in the U.S. is an inefficient fuel that requires as much energy to produce as it delivers.

But ethanol produced efficiently from sugar cane in Brazil has made that nation nearly independent of fossil fuels. In addition, recent reports of research on ethanol produced from switchgrass indicate that nearly 30% of the fuel America needs could be produced efficiently from this easily grown crop. Missouri and Kansas are perhaps the two best situated states in the country for this type of agriculture. The midwest is sitting on land that is the fuel equivalent of a middle east oil field. And the fuel is renewable.

GM has also been an investor in ethanol production methods. As short-sighted as GM has been in producing gas guzzling trucks, it has been far-sighted in developing ethanol capable vehicles and ethanol production.

Think of this. GM for several years has been producing a fleet of E85 vehicles that are now on the road and ready to burn the fuel that switchgrass technology appears ready to deliver. Without such an existing customer base, no one would ever invest in a plant to produce ethanol.

So how stupid is GM? If switchgrass ethanol works, millions of cars already on the road would be able to use a domestically produced fuel, freeing us from importing much foreign oil. And GM is capable of quickly changing its other vehicles to ethanol capability.

Other car companies (Ford, Chrysler) also produce E85 vehicles, but GM has been the industry leader. It was a bet they made long ago.

Is it in the nation's interest to let GM disappear just when their bet appears ready to pay off?

In addition to E85 vehicles, GM is heavily invested in producing the Volt, a battery powered car that would use electricity only for short commutes. And GM also has other hybrids already on the road.

For those of us generally opposed to government bailouts, the GM decision is a tough one. But the economy would take a huge hit if domestic car production disappeared. And the economy would take a tremendous boost from redirecting money now spent abroad to domestic manufacturers.

My vote would be not to loan money to GM but to take a gamble on them with the Feds buying stock in the company. If GM's strategy pays out, taxpayers could make a bundle. And have a shot at energy independence to boot.