ENERGY

Ethanol Mandate Survives Senate Vote: An amendment that would, in effect, have reversed a controversial decision by the Clinton Administration lost by a 51-50 vote, the tie vote being cast by Vice President Al Gore. The amendment would have removed funding for the mandate, which requires 30% use of a renewable additive--almost certainly ethanol made from corn--in federally mandated cleaner gasoline, due at the pump Jan. 1. President Clinton promised support for ethanol during his presidential campaign. Both the oil companies--which produce their own methanol-based additive--and environmentalists oppose the ethanol requirement.