Ethanol plans fuel debate, price fears

Plans to build an ethanol plant in California are spurring debate and fears over even higher gas prices for Californians:

Backers say the $20 million Goshen plant, two months from completion, could be the opening shot in an ethanol-production boom that will bring investment, employment and economic development to rural California. Developers are close to obtaining financing for big plants in Madera and Pixley, and more could follow.

"Ethanol itself has become a mainstream fuel in California," said former California Secretary of State Bill Jones, an investor in the Madera plant. "It clears the air; it provides jobs when plants are built."

California officials, however, have mixed feelings about ethanol.

They like the idea of a new California industry and acknowledge how prevalent ethanol has become. But though its backers tout ethanol as a cheap and clean fuel additive, state officials say it sometimes can make gas more expensive - and not always cleaner.

With gas prices in California averaging $2.37 a gallon and climbing, state officials are pressing the federal government to waive the mandate that requires the use of ethanol in most California cars.

"We don't think it's needed," said spokesman Jerry Martin of the California Air Resources Board, the state agency that regulates fuel recipes.

Without the federal mandate, "the bulk of refiners would sharply curtail their use of ethanol," he said.