FILLMORE, Ind. — Kim Ames has weathered good times and bad on the 4,000 acres his family has farmed for three generations.

He hopes a $125 million ethanol plant being built near his central Indiana farm tips the scales in favor of the good, giving him a local buyer for half the 300,000 bushels of corn he produces each year.

"I think it's good," he said. "We've always been exporting our corn somewhere. Now we'll be doing something (local) with it."

The Putnam Ethanol plant being built in Cloverdale, about 40 miles west of Indianapolis, is one of dozens of ethanol plants being developed across the country as part of a national push toward alternative fuels.

The industry is about to get a major push from new federal energy legislation that would require refiners to double the use of corn-based ethanol in gasoline to 7.5 billion gallons a year by 2012. After the U.S. House of Representatives approved the energy bill Thursday, the White House said President Bush looks forward to signing it into law.

The Senate approved the mammoth $12.3 billion legislation yesterday.

The bill would lead to about $6 billion in new investment in ethanol plants across the country and generate about 200,000 jobs, said Monte Shaw, a spokesman for the Renewable Fuels Association, an industry trade group.

"It's going to be good for consumers, good for taxpayers," he said. "It's going to be really good for rural communities."

In Hawai'i, the law will require 85 percent of all gasoline sold in in the state to contain at least 10 percent ethanol by early 2006.

Four proposed ethanol plants on three islands are preparing to meet the new demand. Together, they could produce as much as 45 million gallons eventually, at full production.

Three of the plants would use traditional fermentation techniques to convert molasses to ethanol. The fourth, Worldwide Energy Group, is working with Gay & Robinson on a specialized technique that would convert sugarcane fiber called bagasse to ethanol.

Proponents say the U.S. needs to produce more ethanol to reduce its reliance on foreign oil. Oil prices have hovered around $58 a barrel recently, driving up costs for gasoline, airline tickets and other consumer goods.

Ethanol was used in cars in the early 1900s, but mass production of the fuel didn't begin until the 1970s. In 2004, 81 plants produced about 3.4 billion gallons of ethanol nationwide, according to the Renewable Fuels Association.

Critics question whether that opportunity presented by ethanol can be sustained long-term.

They say ethanol increases the cost of corn, which in turn means livestock owners pay an average of $3,500 more a year for feed. They also contend that while E85, the gasoline-ethanol mix sold at 400 stations nationwide, costs an average of 30 cents a gallon less than regular gasoline, it is also less fuel efficient.