Blame Faulty Federal Laws for Polluted Water Supplies

Detroit News ^ | 10/13/02 | n/a

[jimkress]

Municipalities are rushing to file lawsuits against manufacturers of a gasoline additive that they say has polluted their water supplies.

The hurry is intended to beat a provision in the impending energy bill that would ban such legal challenges.

But the lawsuits simply aren't fair.

[jimkress]

Command and control governments have never worked. Hoewever, the hapless Left just can't get over trying to emulate Stalin.

A working definition of instnity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

Given their desperate, obsessive, repeatedly failing attmepts to impose command and control, the Left is obviously insane.

Also,

They should ask Washington to help defray their cost of clean-up and to scrap the program to prevent additional pollution.

No. We should insist Washington go back to the limited government the Founders gave us and stop trying to emulate Stalin and the Soviet Union.

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[KC_for_Freedom]

You have to follow the money too, the oil companies jumped at the additive because MTBE is a wasted byproduct, that they eventually got pait to used. The environmentalists were had on this one, because they did not get paid by the oil companies but a Berkeley California study showed that the net-net air quality was not improved because milage dropped by the same percentage that the air was cleaned, so cars used more gas and the polution was unchanged.

In California, Governor Wilson started the mess and received large contributions from the oil companies. Then Davis came in and pledged to stop the additive in the gasoline in California. A few large contributions later and Davis moved out the date to stop the additive's use to a point where it still has not happened. Come next month California will have a new governor, what will Arnold do?

As to suing the oil companies, they will hide behind governments protection, but they did receive large economic benefits and it would not be out of order to ask them to help in the clean up. We like our corporations to be good corporate citizens.

[hoot2]

"The hurry is intended to beat a provision in the impending energy bill that would ban such legal challenges. "

where would the $$$ come from??? silly taxpayers...
kalifornica's senator richard mountjoy, along with talkradio host george putnam; n his listeners; called, emailed, n mailed sacremento....
the demonRATS didn't listen:
we have crappier air,
worse fuel mileage,
more car fires,
n now, contaminated ground water...

[Ben Ficklin]

This article/opinion is ignoring the most important part of the problem:

It is the leaky, underground storage tank that is/was the problem. It would be the owners/operators of these tanks as well as the regulatory agencys that has jurisdiction on inspection and permitting that have caused this. There are many, many water soluble chemicals stored underground without a problem.

I am under the impression that the magnitude of the mtbe contamination varies from local to local based how well these tanks were inspected. I recall that at the time there were many mom & pop convenience stores in Texas that discontinued their gasoline operations due to the condition of their tanks and the cost of replacing them.

[quietolong]

But the use of MTBE can not be stoped...Thank NAFTA!!

TRADING DEMOCRACY

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/622674/posts

[singsong]

It is the leaky, underground storage tank that is/was the problem.
There are so many of them that tight control is prohibitively expensive. The major point in this story is the growing government racket. Freon was banned by All Gory to extract money, although it's far less of a problem than MTBE. The gov is paying themselves to create problems then again to "fix" them. Others get spoils too, while the little guys get the poisons. Triple suction action.

[Ben Ficklin]

As you may, or may not, know, ethanol is also soluble in water. In those areas where ethanol was/is used as an oxygenate, ethanol can be found in the ground water.

It doesn't make any difference to the leaky tank.

[jimkress]

ethanol can be found in the ground water

But that's a GOOD thing! It could also be the start of a new industry - "spring fed" light beer.

[Ben Ficklin]

The last I heard about Methenex-CA-MTBE was that the arbitration panel dismissed Methenex's claim on a technicality, but invited Methenex to refile a corrected claim. At that time Methenex indicated that they would likely not due to the public relations uproar.

Should you have later info on this, let me know.

I followed your link and I need to tell you that Bill Moyers is dishonest.

There is no such thing as a "Secret Tribunal". It is a 3 member arbitration panel with each side picking one member, and negotiating the third member. The findings are signed by each arbitrer. They even have a website.

Chapter 11 is the investor protections in NAFTA, which is a Investor-State trade agreement.

For a keener understanding of the implications, see Greider's The Right and US Trade Law: Invalidating the 20th Century.

After reading this you will understand why Hillary pronounced the Federalist Society as the prime mover behind the VRWC and how they are trying to roll back the New Deal. You will also understand why the Senate Democrats will do anything to keep Bush's Federalist Society judicial nominees off the bench.

As bad as the dems fear NAFTA Chapter 11, they are more fearful that the language will find its way into FTAA. After the recent passage of the Singapore and Chile FTAS, it was announced by Hoffa, AFL-CIO, and all the leftest NGOs that those trade agreements have the investor protections.

[Ben Ficklin]

I think they denature ethanol with phenylpthalien, which was the active ingredient in the laxative Feen-a-Mint.

[jimkress]

Even better! Now its a sping fed light beer health food!

[Ben Ficklin]

LOL! Not only does it make you piss a lot...............

[KC_for_Freedom]

You are very correct about this. The problem is that there were/are many underground tanks that were built when single walls were allowed. They sometimes leaked petroleum spirits into the surrounding ground. They are cleaned up by closing the station (and they were usually the mom and pop stations) and airrating the soil for up to a year. This problem predated MTBE but when MTBE was added to these stations, the damage was far greater. MTBE does not break down and no inexpensive method exists to clean the soil.

The tank owners did pay a price. Their stations' land lost value, but when the MTBE leaks into the ground water system it closes down wells along its path. So far, they have not been able to sue the station owners, the normal ground clean up was usually enough to drive them out of business. So who has the next in line deep pockets?

[Iowa Granny]

You have to follow the money too, the oil companies jumped at the additive because MTBE is a wasted byproduct, that they eventually got paid to used.

EXACTLY. Big Oil used MTBE rather than Ethanol because they controled the MTBE's.

Congress amended the Clean Air Act in 1990 with the aim of reducing tail pipe emissions from cars and directed the petroleum industry to reformulate its gasoline by adding one of two oxygenating agents, ethanol or MTBE.

These companies had a choice. They argued against the use of Ethanol. They lobbied against the use of Ethanol.

[quietolong]

Well he may have over dramatized it as reporters do. But what he had on the show was mostly true. and your link agrees with him.
I will tell you that BIG! business loves Big government and all it’s reg’s They say they don’t but they do! Keeps out the riffraff. meg bucks for an EPA study, take it out of petty cash. ISO 9000 here take 500k O and here’s 300k for Senator windbag. And........
These amounts of money are small time to the big boys. But you as a start up. these amounts are a big deal.
Why do you think Hillary’s health committee was secret. So people did not see who’s really behind the big money. And it’s not The “evil “ R guy’s