I think it's partially warranted. Ethanol is not the holy grail of alternative fuel it's being made out to be. Commodity prices and food prices are soaring because farmers are planting more corn and displacing other crops. Plus, it has less energy than gas and thus has lower fuel economy mpg and lower a/f ratios.

That said, from a performance perspective, I think E85 is a great idea. High octane means more aggressive tuning and more power, fuel economy be damned. I've heard of worse ways to spend money on performance upgrades.