White House Backs Use of Ethanol in Gasoline : Environment: EPA is expected to sign ruling today to boost renewable fuels, cut smog. Los Angeles, San Diego would be affected by regulation.

WASHINGTON — The Clinton Administration, in a bid to aid Midwestern farmers and boost the market for renewable fuels, Tuesday proposed that 30% of the gasoline sold in the nation’s most polluted cities must be derived from sources like corn-based ethanol.

Los Angeles and San Diego are among the nine metropolitan areas that would be affected by the ruling, which is to be signed by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Carol Browner today. The action will benefit farmers. The petroleum industry had fought federal regulations that would set aside a share of the U.S. vehicle-fuel market for such renewable fuels.

The EPA ruling would bring about a significant change in the kinds of fuels that power millions of cars in the nine cities by 1995 and likely would bring about a price hike of a couple of cents a gallon.

EPA officials said that ethanol burns more cleanly than petroleum-based fuels now in use and will help reduce smog in places like the Los Angeles Basin by 15% in 1995 and 29% by the year 2000. Use of ethanol as a significant part of clean gasoline also would help conserve energy generally in the United States because ethanol takes less energy to produce than other fuels.

Officials conceded that the principal economic beneficiaries of the proposed new rule will be corn farmers in the Midwest, who have been hit by floods and droughts in recent years and have sought government guarantees to turn their corn into fuel.

Sen. Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) said that the ruling will increase the cost of corn by 5 to 10 cents a bushel and boost production of the corn-based fuel from 850 million gallons per year to about 2 billion gallons.

“It is by far the best news corn growers have had in many years,” Daschle said. For cities like Los Angeles, he added, “the bottom line . . . is they’re going to have much cleaner air.”

Also affected by the new ruling are New York, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Milwaukee and Hartford, Conn.

Environmentalists also got concessions that would limit ethanol use during the summer, when it tends to evaporate and contribute to smog. During summer months, the EPA would require the cities to switch to ETBE, or ether, which is a more refined ethanol product that evaporates less.

An EPA official said that summer months may be defined more broadly for Los Angeles and San Diego. As a result, Southern California motorists likely will be significant buyers of the ether fuel.