GOP May Remove MTBE Provision From Bill

WASHINGTON - Hoping to rescue energy legislation stalled in the Senate, Republicans were discussing elimination of a controversial provision to give legal protection to the makers of MTBE, a gasoline additive found to contaminate drinking water, officials said.

These sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Senate and House officials, as well as the Bush administration, have discussed the suggestion, but no decisions have been made.

Another GOP source emphasized that House Republican leaders so far have refused to give in on the MTBE liability protection. This source expressed doubt that a solution can be reached over the next three days, meaning an energy bill probably would have to be put off until next year.

The energy bill, a top priority of President Bush (news - web sites), is stymied in the Senate. Supporters fell two votes short of the 60 needed to advance it to final passage last week.

The proposal under discussion would remove the legal protection in the bill for makers of MBTE as well as ethanol, along the lines of a suggestion made on the Senate floor by Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota.

Daschle, whose state would benefit from a variety of ethanol-related provisions in the measure, supports the bill and voted to advance it to passage last week.

After that vote, he said there "should be no doubt" that if the MTBE liability provisions were taken out, the energy bill would pass the Senate and be enacted into law. He proposed that "safe harbor language be eliminated for ethanol as well as MTBE."

The MTBE provision originated in the House, where it has the strong support of Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas and Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., who led the House energy bill negotiations. Most MTBE is produced in Texas and Louisiana.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., on Sunday blamed the gridlock over energy on lawyers who are flooding the courts with lawsuits against MTBE manufacturers.

"The trial lawyers held the bill up," he said, appearing on "Fox News Sunday," arguing that the industry turned to MTBE because of "a federally mandated program to reduce (air) pollution" and should be protected.

Critics of the additive have argued that the oil industry chose MTBE to meet federal air pollution requirements, although they knew as far back as the mid-1980s that the oxygenate would be difficult to control and clean up if it got into water supplies. Cleanup costs have been put as high as $29 billion, although the industry has said that number is exaggerated.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said he was giving senators 48 hours to find a solution. "If we can't get it done by Tuesday, we won't see (the energy bill again) until January," he said on CNN.

While many senators complained the bill had too many favors for special interests, cost too much and failed to do enough to curb energy use, it was the MTBE issue that tipped sentiment against the legislation, which earlier had breezed through the House.

"A safe harbor for manufacturers of MTBE is unacceptable," said Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H., whose state has filed a lawsuit against 22 oil and chemical companies seeking damages from water contamination.

DeLay accused Senate opponents of the energy bill of using MTBE "as a scapegoat to obstruct" the energy legislation. He said MTBE manufacturers be protected as part of a compromise expanding use of corn-based ethanol, a rival additive.

"The MTBE and ethanol provisions are a true compromise that will become law," said DeLay, who pushed to make the waiver retroactive to Sept. 5 so a string of new lawsuits would be covered.

Once viewed as important to reducing pollution from automobiles, MTBE became an object of scorn when it was found that it was difficult to contain and clean up once it gets into drinking water. Traces of MTBE have been found in almost every state and it has the potential of becoming a serious problem in at least 28 states, according to government and private studies.

"Cash-strapped local governments should not be forced to bear the cost" of MTBE cleanup and "it is unconscionable that MTBE manufacturers should be shielded," said Donald Borut, executive director of the National League of Cities.

The National Conference of Mayors has estimated that the cleanup bill from MTBE contamination could be as high as $29 billion.

But a spokesman for MTBE manufactures, Frank Maisano, called the number "wildly overstated" and put the cost "directly attributed to MTBE remediating" at no more than $1 billion.

But a spokesman for MTBE manufactures, Frank Maisano, called the number "wildly overstated" and put the cost "directly attributed to MTBE remediating" at no more than $1 billion.

Well, if that is true why are the oil companies fighting tooth and nail to NOT have to pay for the cleanup?

Of course it is all political, the MTBE mixes and adheres with/to water and pollutes it. Gasoline without MTBE goes to the surface of the water and evaporates.

The poltics of it come in here: They want to outlaw 2 cycle watersport vehicles; waverunners, jetskis, etc because they spill some gasoline in the water. Now with no MTBE, it is no problem because it will evaporate.

Many wells and other water supplies in California and other states have been contaminated with MTBE.

It will cost WELL over one Billion Dollars to fix the problem.

The carcinogenic and polluting properties of MTBE have been known for years.

Melanie Morgan and KSFO went to the capitol...what 2 or three years ago with hundreds of people to protest MTBE.

The Governor signed something to stop using it in the future. When? Oh probably 2012 or so.

Also, with the help of NAFTA, the Canadian producers of MTBE are fighting to be able to sell it to us. What do they care if it is killing us?

Just as an aside, Canada has a large reserve of oil offshore. They should suck it out before it leaks out by itself and pollutes the beaches...

A History of MTBE

FRom MTBE-eresource.com

Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE) is a synthetic chemical commonly used as an additive to gasoline in the United States since the late 1970s. Originally, MTBE was used as an octane enhancer and lead substitute, in small amounts varying from 0.5 to 3.5 % by volume. More recently, MTBE and oxygenates have been used as an emission control strategy to reduce both carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon emissions from vehicles. In 1981 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the use of up to 10 percent by volume of MTBE and in 1988 increased this to 15 percent. In the late 1980's ARCO Petroleum began marketing Reformulated Gasoline (RFG) with MTBE as an additive. Called "EC-1", the fuel was designed specially to reduce emissions and to replace leaded gasoline in older vehicles. In 1990, Federal laws were passed requiring gasoline to contain 2.7% by weight oxygenate in the winter months to reduce carbon monoxide emissions in 39 cities across the country. About 2/3 of this oxygenate requirement was met by using MTBE (the remainder used ethanol). The Clean Air Act also established a RFG program containing 2% by weight oxygen content, which began implementation in 1995. The RFG program is mandatory in nine cities with the worst smog, including Los Angeles, San Diego, Chicago, Houston, Milwaukee, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Hartford, and New York City. Other areas voluntarily joined the RFG program. RFG is currently used in 17 states and the District of Columbia, and is estimated to reduce emissions equivalent to eliminating 16 million vehicles. The oxygenated fuels program is credited with achieving a significant reduction in CO and VOC emissions from the present vehicle fleet. In 1991, the California Air Resources Board (ARB) adopted rules for California Reformulated Gasoline (CaRFG2) which began implementation in 1996. The refiners in California selected MTBE as the oxygenate of choice to meet both the federal oxygen requirement and the CaRFG2 emissions requirements. The refineries selected MTBE over other oxygenates due to is availability, lower cost, high octane value, ability to dilute other harmful gasoline components, and good mixing and volatility properties.

Since the increased use of MTBE in gasoline, some MTBE has been detected in groundwater in California and other states. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) sampled almost 200 monitoring wells, 5 drinking wells, and 12 springs for MTBE contamination. MTBE was the second most frequently found VOC, found in 27 percent of the shallow urban wells (none in drinking water). In comparison, monitoring from 549 agricultural shallow wells and 300 deep aquifers, MTBE was detected in 1 percent of the samples, with 3 percent of the detections exceeding 20 µg/L (the EPA health advisory level). The majority of the urban contamination is caused by leaking storage tanks. The USGS also completed a comprehensive sampling of almost 600 storm-water samples, where MTBE was the seventh most frequent detected VOC, found in 7 percent of the samples. All of the detections were below 20 µg/L, with an average level of 1.5 µg/L. The detections ranged from 2 to 8.7 µg/L.

MTBE is just being studied relative to ground water and soil cleanup technology, and inexpensive techniques for remediation have not been developed or fully tested. MTBE travels more easily through the soil than other gasoline components, so contamination is quicker and more prevalent from MTBE than other gasoline components when there is a leaky underground storage tank. Some have argued that MTBE is a way to locate leaking storage tanks earlier and get them fixed before significant environmental harm occurs. A program to update and monitor the status of new tanks is currently underway, which will eliminate much of the contamination of MTBE and other harmful gasoline components.

Following a study by the University of California on the health and environmental concerns of MTBE, Governor Gray Davis declared MTBE poses an unacceptable risk to the environment, and issued an Executive Order on March 25, 1999 directing all MTBE to be removed from California's gasoline before or on December 31, 2002.

As part of this executive order, the Governor ordered eleven tasks to be completed. One of the tasks required the California Energy Commission (CEC) to perform a study in conjunction with the ARB and the gasoline refiners to determine the earliest possible date to remove MTBE from gasoline. The CEC reported that it would not be feasible without disrupting the supply and significantly altering costs to remove MTBE from California gasoline before December 31, 2002. Also as part of the Executive Order, Governor Davis directed the Air Resources Board to develop new requirements for Phase 3 Reformulated Gasoline (CaRFG3) by December 1999. The new gasoline requires MTBE to be eliminated from gasoline while maintaining all of the benefits of current CaRFG2. The Phase 3 gasoline will be implemented coinciding with the Governor's order for the removal of MTBE at the end of 2002. Some of the modifications to the CaRFG include lowering sulfur level of the fuel to improve catalyst efficiency, lowering the amount of toxic hydrocarbons, while relaxing the standards on distillation index to allow for the easier removal of MTBE. Depending on the decision of the US EPA to waive the federal oxygenate requirement, CaRFG3 will be made with oxygenate (most likely ethanol) or without any oxygenate. While the air quality benefits of CaRFG3 have been predicted through computer modeling to be equivalent to the current RFG, it is not clear at this stage if in reality the full air quality benefits of oxygenated fuels will be realized as required by the Governor. Additionally, it is not clear whether the CaRFG3 benefit is due to reduced sulfur content, in which case it would be appropriate to assess additional benefits of sulfur reduction from current reformulated fuel.

In anticipation of the potential increased use of ethanol in CaRFG3, there has been many recent studies on the feasibility and impact of the supply, cost, infrastructure, and potential health and environmental impacts of using ethanol as a replacement for MTBE. Cal EPA concluded that there is no substantial difference in the public health impacts of switching from MTBE oxygenated to ethanol oxygenated fuel. The CEC has concluded that biomass to ethanol conversion could potentially meet the state's oxygenated gasoline needs if certain technological advances occur. The study also concludes that the resulting ethanol may be relatively expensive. The Renewable Fuels Association concludes that "adequate supplies of competitively priced ethanol could be supplied to the California market almost immediately". Monitor Company concludes that ethanol supplies are not adequate to currently meet the oxygenate requirements in California. The CEC estimates that between 35 and 92 percent of all the ethanol currently produced would be required to replace MTBE in California. Therefore, production would have to be increased by restarting idle capacity and building new facilities. CEC also reports that if the rest of the nation also switched oxygenates, as is being discussed in many locations, adequate supplies would become a major issue.

Efforts have been made to determine the acceptable levels of MTBE in drinking water to prevent any health and aesthetic (odor and taste) problems. The USEPA has tentatively classified MTBE as a possible human carcinogen on the basis of studies that show MTBE is a carcinogen in animals. However, there is no evidence that MTBE is carcinogenic in humans. EPA's Office of Water placed MTBE on the Contaminant Candidate List to evaluate whether MTBE should be included in the Primary Drinking Water Standards. The EPA concluded that there needs to be more research on the occurrence and health effects before a determination can be made. It is anticipated that the USEPA draft drinking-water lifetime health advisory for MTBE will be assigned a value of 20 or 200 µg/L. The drinking water lifetime health advisory is the maximum concentration that is not expected to cause any adverse effects over a lifetime of exposure, with a specified margin of safety. In response to taste and odor concerns, the EPA has issued a secondary drinking water advisory of 20-40µg/L MTBE to avert unpleasant taste and odor effects. The California Department of Health Services is planning on adopting a primary maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 13 µg/L for health concerns of drinking water, and has already adopted a secondary MCL of 5 µg/L to address odor and taste effects.

From National Driller - Posted on: 03/05/2001

Research on MTBE: "Tip of the Iceberg"

By Danny Lewis

Research to date regarding the controversial gasoline additive Methyl Tertiary Butyl-Ether (MTBE) has only touched 'the tip of the iceberg' regarding its potential effects, according to a petroleum researcher.

While MTBE has been successful in reducing air polluting emissions from vehicles, the controversial chemical has been found in groundwater sources far from the 17 states which now require its use, said Charlie Voinche, vice president of Petroleum Laboratories of Lafayette, La. and Houston, Texas.

"MTBE is highly water-soluble and it can travel from watershed to watershed," said Voinche "It can migrate quickly through soil and it is resistant to breakdown in soil when compared to gasoline."

"Use of reformulated gasoline containing MTBE was required in Denver, Colo. and a few years later US Geological Survey (USGS) researchers found it in a low-level aquifer near Reno, Nev., hundreds of miles from Denver and in an area where use of reformulated gasoline was not required," Voinche added.

MTBE is used to reduce carbon monoxide and ozone levels caused by automobile emissions. MTBE has replaced lead as an octane enhancer in gasoline since 1979 and it helps increase the oxygen content of fuel. Gasoline reformulated to reduce emissions contains about 12 percent MTBE, Voinche said.

"There is no question use of MTBE has had an effect on air quality. The question is what is it doing to our water? The history of MTBE may be similar to the history of things such as asbestos, that we thought were beneficial at the outset, but turned out not to be," he said.

Speaking to Louisiana Ground Water Association members, Voinche said MTBE is a concern in Louisiana because it is manufactured in large quantities by area refineries and is transported through the state in pipelines and on barges and tanker trucks and is stored there in surface and underground tanks.

Noting the amount of MTBE produced in the 1990s in the US ranked second among all organic chemicals, Voinche said he believes information about the chemical gathered to date represents only 'the tip of the iceberg' regarding its effects.

"In shallow groundwater samples taken in urban areas of the United States, 27 percent show MTBE to be present," he said. "All the data on MTBE is not in and we don't know the magnitude of the problem we may have 10 years down the road. Time will tell."

He added MTBE, which is highly flammable and is known to cause cancer in animals, has only been detected in two percent of agricultural wells to date in the US. Since the chemical can quickly migrate through soil and enter aquifers, where it can persist for decades, he said the percentage of MTBE-contaminated wells could increase greatly in the future.

The researcher said the presence of MTBE in an aquifer also indicates likelihood of future contamination by other petroleum-related substances which could also seep through surrounding soil.

"MTBE is one of the first substances which filters into aquifers. MTBE detection can help with early detection of contaminated areas because when you see MTBE in the soil or groundwater, other hydrocarbon components will follow," he said.

Voinche said MTBE concentrations as great as 2,700 parts per billion have been found in some aquifers. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering limiting permissible MTBE levels from 5 to 40 parts per billion for uses other than drinking water and 5 to 20 parts per billion for drinking water. EPA also is requiring all large drinking water systems and a representative sample of smaller systems to monitor and report presence of MTBE in their systems.

The federal agency has recommended banning or phasing out MTBE in gasoline and substituting other additives, but Voinche said President George W. Bush, the EPA director, or Congress may offer different approaches for handling the problem.

"It's going to be a health issue and the question is what MTBE rate the EPA will say is good and what they will say is bad," he said.

Voinche said MTBE's presence in water can be detected through gas chromatography and the two most promising means of removing it from groundwater are reverse osmosis and carbon filtration. Microbe technology can be used to remediate soil contaminated by MTBE, but the researcher said the microbes couldn't remove MTBE from water.

"They can get it out of the groundwater, but the economics are not feasible for most municipalities. They can't do it at a cost rate acceptable to the citizens," Voinche said.

He said costs of laboratory testing water samples for MTBE range from $60 to $130 each, new field testing kits are being developed, but they are not as accurate as laboratory tests.

Voinche said if any positives surround current concerns regarding MTBE, they could be in encouraging development of alternative fuels or additives to replace MTBE.

He said well drillers also could benefit from the ongoing discussions about MTBE because "water is going to be so precious that clean water will have a big dollar value placed on it, so that could be a positive for your industry."

Noting the potential costs of MTBE testing and clean-up efforts and possible health threats from the substance, Voinche said those issues raise a key question. "Since Congress mandated the use of reformulated gasolines containing MTBE, who should be held liable for damages and health and clean-up issues?" he asked.

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