Iowa senator tries to force California MTBE ban

WASHINGTON — A Midwestern US senator wants to try and force California to stick with its original plan to ban methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) and switch to ethanol to make cleaner-burning fuel. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-IA, said Tuesday he would offer legislation next week that could reverse California's decision to hold off on the MTBE ban it had previously announced, Reuters news service reported. Grassley, whose corn-growing state would benefit from more ethanol demand, said he would put forward the measure as part of the Senate's scheduled debate next week on a broad US energy policy to encourage more production and conservation, the news service said. "We will try to amend the energy bill to overrule the governor of California," Grassley said, criticizing a recent decision by California Gov. Gray Davis to delay by one year, until 2004, the state's ban on MTBE, Reuters reported. Davis recently announced a postponement of the state's planned ban of the gasoline additive often blamed for groundwater contamination. He said the delay was necessary to avoid a sharp spike in gasoline prices and tight supplies. Greater use of ethanol is widely supported by farm-state senators, including Majority Leader Tom Daschle, eager to find new markets for crops, Reuters reported. The energy bill pending in the Democratic-led Senate includes incentives that would roughly double ethanol use by 2012.