Posted on 05/07/2008 9:59:23 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
NEW YORK - At least two major oil companies said late Wednesday they have agreed to settle lawsuits over the use of the gasoline additive MTBE, a potential carcinogen that has been found in drinking water.
Representatives of Valero Energy Corp. and Chevron Corp. said they had joined the settlement, although a number of other oil companies are also named in a memo supporting the deal that was obtained by The Associated Press.
The companies confirmed their involvement after The Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site that several oil companies agreed to pay $423 million plus cleanup costs to settle groundwater contamination litigation involving 153 public water providers in 17 states. That would make it the largest settlement to date involving the additive.
"We've worked hard to reach a responsible resolution to the cases being settled and are pleased to be moving forward," Chevron spokeswoman Stephanie Price said.
Valero's agreement "resolves many of the lawsuits" filed against the oil refiner over its prior use of the gasoline additive, company spokesman Bill Day said in a brief statement to the AP.
He said the "settlement agreement is being reviewed by the court and is not yet final." He did not provide details of the agreement and declined to name other companies involved in the deal.
According to the Journal, the other defendants settling include BP PLC's BP America Inc., ConocoPhillips, Royal Dutch Shell PLC's Shell Oil Co., Marathon Oil Corp., Petroleos de Venezuela SA's Citgo Petroleum Corp. and Sunoco Inc.
Those companies were among those listed in the court document obtained by the AP. Messages left with the companies seeking comment were not immediately returned.
At least six companies declined to settle, the largest being ExxonMobil Corp., the Journal said.
Each company's contribution to the settlement was undisclosed, as was the potential cleanup cost. Past estimates have put the tab to remediate all tainted sites as high as $30 billion, the Journal reported.
The newspaper's report quoted Scott Summy, an attorney for the plaintiffs, who said covering the cleanup costs for 30 years was a "creative approach" to resolving a matter that involves so many parties. That provision of the settlement removes the threat of litigation over future contaminated wells, he told the Journal.
The AP could not immediately reach the plaintiff's attorneys for comment.
MTBE, or methyl tertiary butyl ether, is a chemical added to gasoline to boost its octane level and cut air pollution. It was first added to gasoline in 1979, but its use declined after it was banned in a number of states.
MTBE has been found in ground water, including in some communities' drinking water supplies. The Environmental Protection Agency said the chemical is a potential human carcinogen at high doses, although it is unclear at what level it poses a health risk.
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too bad the politicians who helped birth this nightmare were not called to task as well for supporting this public menace.
PING
MTBE was actually not an entirely bad thing.
It’s no more toxic then many other fractions of gasoline.
It’s just much better detected by the human senses.
IMHO if they were serious about stopping tank leaks they would require MTBE in all gasoline.
The gasoline might already be in your well. With MTBE in the gas supply you can taste if it is.
The oil companies were forced to put MTBE into the gasoline because of idiot environmentalists. How much are the environmentalists going to pay for cramming laws down our throat which ultimately poisoned the water supply?
Not sure what state you live in but in California, it has been a nightmare, every station in the state or close to it has had to have new tanks installed. as to water wells, we get our water the way a lot of other folks do , thru municipal sources, or from water stores.
now that it’s getting phased out for another supplement, ethanol, we face a different shade of challenge at the pump and the stores that feel the effect of re-allocated resources to meet the latest demands and regulations foisted upon us for our own good.
I’m not so sure I would agree with your stopping tank leaks and requiring mtbe in all gasoline... or what you were intending to portray as some benefit by doing so. It’s getting late, but I won’t use that as an excuse for not following that logic.
The state governments (or was it only Kooky Kalifornia?) that required the addition of this stuff, and the wackos that agitated for it get off free, while the oil companies become the culprits. “ . . . with liberty and justice for all.”
“The oil companies were forced to put MTBE into the gasoline because of idiot environmentalists. How much are the environmentalists going to pay for cramming laws down our throat which ultimately poisoned the water supply?”
I was going to post something similar, then I did some research. Turns out, the EPA mandated the use of **SOME** type of oxygenate in gasoline in high-pollution areas....which could have been either MTBE or ethanol. Most refiners chose MTBE, for their own reasons, economy probably foremost. Turned out to be the wrong choice.
I could go into all the rants, but you have to have some sense of pity for the refiners. They really caught hell on this MTBE deal, and they continuously catch all kinds of grief from their local enviro-zealot contingent. Their plant is very costly to build and maintain. They operate on very slim margins and are getting absolutely CREAMED with these high oil prices. They simply cannot operate profitably at these oil price levels.
Yea, sue to environmental imams
Gasoline oxygenated with MTBE can be pipelined to wherever. Gasoline with an ethanol oxygenate has to be blended near the point of sale, and cannot be sent down the pipeline pre-blended because the ethanol absorbs water and the line will corrode.
Much lower transport costs with MTBE.
Aha, correct. Thanks for pointing that out. It was odd to me why a complex compound like MTBE would be chosen over simpler ethanol, that explains it.
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