[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 33 (Wednesday, February 22, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H1973]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1115
  INTRODUCTION OF LEGISLATION TO SUSPEND REQUIREMENT FOR REFORMULATED 
                                GASOLINE

  (Mr. KLECZKA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KLECZKA. Mr. Speaker, since January 1 of this year, reformulated 
gasoline has been required by the Clean Air Act in southeastern 
Wisconsin and other areas of this country. This reformulation contains 
either ethanol, MTBE, or ETBE.
  Immediately, constituents started calling to complain of engine 
problems and reduced mileage, but more importantly they complained of 
adverse health effects.
  I recently spoke with an allergist, Dr. Roger Hirsch, who confirmed 
that he noticed a pattern of symptoms for his patients starting in the 
second week of January. These symptoms included respiratory problems, 
light-headedness, low-grade headaches, and itchy and burning eyes.
  When these symptoms reoccurred 3 to 4 weeks later, Dr. Hirsch began 
to suspect that there was a common cause. Going by the flood of calls 
received by my office, other congressional offices, and State and 
Federal hotlines, there certainly is.
  To address this problem, my colleague, Mr. Barrett, and I are 
introducing legislation today that would suspend the reformulated gas 
requirement until the complaints of adverse health effects are 
thoroughly examined. The onus would be on EPA to prove that this fuel 
is safe.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join us by cosponsoring this 
bill. We are all for clean air, but we should not create health hazards 
achieving it.


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