[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 42 (Wednesday, March 17, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2847-S2850]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. FEINSTEIN:
  S. 645. A bill to amend the Clean Air Act to waive the oxygen content 
requirement for reformulated gasoline that results in no greater 
emissions of air pollutants than reformulated gasoline meeting the 
oxygen content requirement; to the Committee on Environment and Public 
Works.


                            eliminating mtbe

 Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, today I am introducing a bill 
to enable the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to eliminate the 
additive, MTBE, from gasoline. The goal in this bill, as in my previous 
three bills (S. 266, S. 267 and S. 268) is to eliminate MTBE from 
drinking water.
  Under this bill, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency could waive 
the two percent reformulated gasoline oxygenate requirement of the 
Clean Air Act in any state if gasoline with less than two percent or 
with no oxygenates does not result in greater emissions than emissions 
from reformulated gasoline containing two percent oxygenates.
  MTBE or methyl tertiary butyl ether is added to gasoline by some 
refiners in response to federal Clean Air Act requirements that areas 
with the most serious air pollution problems use reformulated or 
cleaner-burning gasoline. This federal law requires that this gasoline 
contain two percent by weight oxygenates. MTBE has been the oxygenate 
of choice by some refiners.
  The Clean Air Act's reformulated gas requirements have no doubt 
helped reduce emissions throughout the United States, but the two 
percent oxygenate requirement has imposed limitations on the level of 
flexibility that U.S. EPA can grant to states and limited the 
flexibility of refiners in making clean gasoline.
  I am very troubled to learn from a March 16 article in the Sacramento 
Bee that the gasoline refiners were aware

[[Page S2848]]

of MTBE's dangers long before it was approved for use in California. 
Researchers in Maine pointed out MTBE's harms in 1986. The Bee 
reporter, after studying industry research documents, quotes a 1992 
industry scientific paper: ``MTBE plumes are expected to move faster 
and further than benzene plumes emanating from a gasoline spill. 
Moreover, the solubility of MTBE is nearly 25 times that of benzene and 
its concentration in gasoline will be approximately 10 times greater.''
  A spokesman for the Oxygenated Fuels Association is also quoted as 
saying that the chemical properties that make MTBE problematic in water 
``were widely known'' in the 1980s.
  Bob Reeb, of the Association of California Water Agencies, is quoted 
as saying, had they known of MTBE's adverse effects, ``We would have 
fought like hell to keep it out of gasoline. It appears to be a classic 
case of placing corporate profits above public health.''
  The Sacramento Bee article is appended to my statement.
  A number of authorities have called attention to MTBE's harm and have 
called for prompt action.
  The American Medical Association House of Delegates and the American 
Public Health Association approved resolutions calling for a moratorium 
on the use of MTBE in 1994--1994!
  The University of California released a five-volume study in November 
1998, and recommended phasing out MTBE. UC found that ``there are 
significant risks and costs associated with water contamination due to 
the use of MTBE.'' The University of California study says: ``If MTBE 
continues to be used at current levels and more sources become 
contaminated, the potential for regional degradation of water 
resources, especially groundwater basins, will increase. Severity of 
water shortages during drought years will be exacerbated.''
  The UC study says that oil companies can make cleaner-burning 
gasoline that meets federal air standards without MTBE and that they 
should be given the flexibility to do that. The UC study found that 
``there is no significant additional air quality benefit to the use of 
oxygenates such as MTBE in reformulated gasoline, relative to'' 
California's reformulated gasoline formula.
  The California Environmental Protection Agency on February 19, 23, 24 
held two public hearings on the University of California report. A 
total of 109 people spoke at the hearings and 987 written comments 
(including mine) were submitted as of today, and the comment period is 
still open. Of the 109 speakers, 12 supported continued use of MTBE. 
Cal EPA is still reading the written comments.
  A June 12, 1998 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory study 
concluded that MTBE is a ``frequent and widespread contaminant'' in 
groundwater throughout California and does not degrade significantly 
once it is there. This study found that groundwater has been 
contaminated at over 10,000 shallow monitoring sites. The Livermore 
study says that ``MTBE has the potential to impact regional groundwater 
resources and may present a cumulative contamination hazard.''
  The Association of California Water Agencies has detected MTBE in 
shallow groundwater at over 10,000 sites in the state and in some 
deeper drinking wells. Their December 1998 study documented MTBE 
contamination in many of the state's surface water reservoirs, pointing 
to motorized recreation as a major source.
  The environmental group, Communities for a Better Environment, issued 
a report this month calling for a ban on MTBE in our state because it 
has contamined groundwater, drinking water and land.
  I have received letters and resolutions opposing MTBE from 56 
California local governments, water districts, and air districts.
  In higher concentrations, MTBE smells like turpentine and it tastes 
like paint thinner. Relatively low levels of MTBE can make drinking 
water simply undrinkable.
  MTBE is a highly soluble organic compound which moves quickly through 
soil and gravel. It, therefore, poses a more rapid threat to water 
supplies than other constituents of gasoline when leaks occur. MTBE is 
easily traced, but it is very difficult and expensive to cleanup. 
California water agencies say it costs $1 million to cleanup per well 
and $5 million plus for reservoirs.
  Contamination of drinking water MTBE continues to grow. A December 
14, 1998 San Francisco Chronicle headline calls MTBE a ``Ticking 
Bomb.''
  The Lawrence Livermore study says that ground water has been 
contaminated at over 10,000 sites in my state.
  South Lake Tahoe has closed 14 wells and is implementing a ban on 
personal watercraft. Ten plumes of MTBE released by gas stations (some 
from a hose torn loose, some from spills, some from underground tanks) 
have caused the shutdown of 35% of the districts' drinking water wells, 
eliminating nearly one-fifth of its water supply since September 1997. 
The levels of groundwater contamination there are as high as 1,200,000 
parts per billion. The South Tahoe Public Utility District has spent 
nearly $1 million in non-budget funds on MTBE.
  The February 5 Sacramento Bee reported that MTBE has been detected 30 
miles away from Lake Tahoe, that ``it apparently made its way to the 
reservoir through South Lake Tahoe's wastewater export system. . . Six 
service stations working to clear MTBE from contaminated areas have 
been discharging water into the sewer system after a treatment 
process.'' The article quotes Dawn Forsythe, a Tahoe authority: ``It's 
going all the way through the sewer system, through the treatment 
system, through the export pipeline, across a stream and now it's in 
the reservoir.''
  MTBE has been detected in drinking water supplies in a number of 
cities including Santa Monica, Riverside, Anaheim, Los Angeles, San 
Francisco, Sebastopol, Manteca, and San Diego. MTBE has also been 
detected in numerous California reservoirs including Lake Shasta in 
Redding, San Pablo and Cherry reservoirs in the Bay Area, and Coyote 
and Anderson reservoirs in Santa Clara.
  Drinking water wells in Santa Clara Valley (Great Oaks Water Company) 
and Sacramento (Fruitridge Vista Water Company) have been shut down 
because of MTBE contamination.
  In addition, MTBE has been detected in the following surface water 
reservoirs: Lake Perris (Metropolitan Water District of Southern 
California), Anderson Reservoir (Santa Clara Valley Water District), 
Canyon Lake (Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District), Pardee 
Reservoir and San Pablo Reservoir (East Bay Municipal Utility 
District), Lake Berryessa (Solano County Water Agency).
  The largest contamination occurred in the city of Santa Monica, which 
lost 75% of its ground water supply as a result of MTBE leaking out of 
shallow gas tanks beneath the surface. MTBE has been discovered in 
publicly owned wells approximately 100 feet from the City Council 
Chamber in South Lake Tahoe. In Glennvile, California, near 
Bakersfield, MTBE levels have been detected in groundwater as high as 
190,000 parts per billion--dramatically exceeding the California 
Department of Health advisory of 35 parts per billion.

  While many scientists say we need more definitive research on the 
human health effects of MTBE, the U.S. EPA has indicated that ``MTBE is 
an animal carcinogen and has a human carcinogenic hazard potential.''
  Dr. John Froines, a distinguished UCLA scientist, testified at the 
California EPA hearing on February 23 as follows:

       We in our report have concluded the cancer evidence in 
     animals is relevant to humans.
       There are ``acute effects in occupationally-exposed 
     workers, including headaches, dizziness, nausea, eye and 
     respiratory irritation, vomiting, sensation of spaciness or 
     disorientation and burning of the nose and throat.''
       MTBE exposure was associated with excess cancers in rats 
     and mice, therefore, multi-species,'' citing multiple, 
     ``endpoints, lymphoma, leukemia, testicular cancer, liver and 
     kidney.
       All four of the tumor sites observed in animals may be 
     predictive of human cancer risk.

  He further testified:
       The related question is whether there is evidence which 
     demonstrates the animal cancers are not relevant to humans. 
     The answer developed in detail in our report is no. There is 
     no convincing evidence that the data is specific to animals. 
     That is our conclusion. Nobody has come forward to tell us a 
     basis to change that point of view.

  `These, to me, are troubling statements from a reputable authority.

[[Page S2849]]

  While the data is incomplete, we do know that MTBE is showing up in 
other states. U.S. EPA funded a study by the University of 
Massachusetts last year, which was not able to collect data from every 
state, but which reported that 25 states have reports of private 
drinking water wells contaminated with MTBE. Nineteen states reported 
public drinking water wells contaminated with MTBE. EPA experts 
concluded, ``MTBE detections by most state programs is common'' and 
``MTBE may contaminate groundwater in unexpected locations and in 
unexpected ways, such as at diesel fuel sites or from surface dumping 
of small amounts of gasoline.'' (Soil and Groundwater Cleanup, August/
September 1998, ``Study Reports LUST Programs Are Felling Effects of 
MTBE Releases.'')
  Here are some examples of problems in other states:

       A Maine survey found that 15 percent of drinking wells had 
     detectable amounts of MTBE and 5,200 private wells may 
     contain MTBE above the state's drinking water standard.
       MTBE has contaminated the well water for over 200 homes in 
     New York.
       In Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, MTBE was detected in tap water, 
     suspected from a leak from a gas station tank.
       Texas, with over 21,000 leaking underground fuel tanks, is 
     finding MTBE in drinking water.
       MTBE has been detected in drinking water in Kansas and 
     Virginia.

  Clearly, MTBE is a problem in many states.
  The California Air Resources Board in 1994 adopted a clean gas 
formula that is called a ``predictive model,'' a performance-based 
program that allows refiners to use innovative fuel formulations to 
meet clean air requirements.
  The predictive model provides twice the clean air benefits required 
by the federal government. With this model, refiners can make cleaner 
burning gasoline with one percent oxygen or even no oxygen at all. The 
federal two percent oxygenate requirement limits this kind of 
innovation. In fact, Chevron, Tosco and Shell are already making MTBE-
free gasoline.
  Since the introduction of the California Cleaner Burning Gasoline 
program, there has been a 300-ton-per-day decrease in ozone forming 
ingredients found in the air. This is the emission reduction equivalent 
of taking 3.5 million automobiles off the road. California reformulated 
gasoline reduces smog-forming emissions from vehicles by 15 percent.
  I have now offered to the Congress 4 approaches to getting MTBE out 
of our drinking water.
  I introduced S. 266 on January 20, a bill to allow California to 
apply its own clean or reformulated gasoline rules as long as emissions 
reductions are equivalent or greater. California's rules are stricter 
than the federal rules and thus meet the air quality requirements of 
the federal Clean Air Act. This bill is the companion to H.R. 11 
introduced by Rep. Bilbray on January 6, 1999.
  S. 267, my second bill, requires the U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency to make petroleum releases into drinking water the highest 
priority in the federal underground storage tank cleanup program. This 
bill is needed because underground storage tanks are the major source 
of MTBE into drinking water and federal law does not give EPA specific 
guidance on cleanup priorities.
  The third bill, S. 268, will move from 2006 to 2001 full 
implementation of EPA's current watercraft engine exhaust emissions 
requirements. The California Air Resources Board on December 10, 1998, 
adopted watercraft engine regulations in effect making the federal EPA 
rules effective in 2001, so this bill will make the deadline in the 
federal requirements consistent with California's deadlines. In 
addition, the bill will require an emissions label on these engines 
consistent with California's requirements so the consumer can make an 
informed purchasing choice. This bill is needed because watercraft 
engines have remained essentially unchanged since the 1930s and up to 
30 percent of the gas that goes into the motor goes into water 
unburned.
  Dr. John Froines, testified that in California, ``. . . essentially 
every citizen of California is breathing MTBE daily.''
  MTBE is not needed to produce clean air. By allowing the companies 
that supply our state's gasoline to use good science and sound 
environmental policy, we can achieve the goals set forth by the Clear 
Air Act, without sacrificing California's clean water. I believe U.S. 
EPA should give all states this flexibility.
  MTBE is not needed. Refiners can make gasoline that is clean--
Chevron, Tosco and Shell are already doing that in my state.
  MTBE is an animal carcinogen and a potential human carcinogen.
  Let's end it.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill and 
article from the Sacramento Bee be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                 S. 645

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. WAIVER OF OXYGEN CONTENT REQUIREMENT FOR CERTAIN 
                   REFORMULATED GASOLINE.

       Section 211(k)(2)(B) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 
     7545(k)(2)(B)) is amended--
       (1) in the first sentence, by striking ``The oxygen'' and 
     inserting the following:
       ``(i) Requirement.--The oxygen''; and
       (2) in the second sentence--
       (A) by striking ``The Administrator'' and inserting the 
     following:
       ``(ii) Waivers.--The Administrator'';
       (B) by striking ``area upon a'' and inserting the 
     following: ``area--

       ``(I) upon a'';

       (C) by striking the period at the end and inserting ``; 
     or''; and
       (D) by adding at the end the following:

       ``(II) if the Administrator determines, by regulation, that 
     reformulated gasoline that contains less than 2.0 percent by 
     weight oxygen and meets all other requirements of this 
     subsection will result in total emissions of ozone forming 
     volatile organic compounds and toxic air pollutants, 
     respectively, that are not greater than the total emissions 
     of those compounds and pollutants resulting from reformulated 
     gasoline that contains at least 2.0 percent by weight oxygen 
     and meets all other requirements of this subsection.''.

                [From the Sacramento Bee, Mar. 16, 1999]

            MTBE Risk to Drinking Water Was Known for Years

                   (By Chris Bowman and Patrick Hoge)

       America's fuel industry knew about the risk to drinking 
     water from MTBE years before domestic refineries more than 
     doubled the chemical's volume in gasoline, but manufacturers 
     marketed the product as an environmental improvement anyway.
       In technical papers and conference presentations, 
     environmental engineers for refineries and government 
     regulators alike predicted that MTBE could become a lingering 
     groundwater menace as its usage increased.
       Sixteen years before MTBE-rich gasoline was approved for 
     statewide use in California to combat air pollution, oil 
     companies knew from their first experience with the fuel 
     additive in New England how quickly methyl tertiary butyl 
     ether can migrate from leaking storage tanks to drinking 
     water wells, company records and technical journals show.
       At the time, the pollution specialists stressed that MTBE 
     was in many ways more worrisome than gasoline's cancer-
     causing benzene.
       ``MTBE plumes are expected to move faster and further than 
     benzene plumes emanating from a gasoline spill,'' three Shell 
     researchers said in an internal 1992 paper. ``Moreover, the 
     solubility of MTBE is nearly 25 times that of benzene, and 
     its concentration in gasoline will be approximately 10 times 
     greater.''
       These papers, recently obtained by The Bee, have renewed 
     importance today in California where the spotlight on the 
     fuel controversy is about to turn on industry.
       Later this month, Gov. Gray Davis is expected to announce 
     that MTBE presents a public health threat and should be 
     phased out of California, sources in his administration say. 
     Such an action would not end the public debate, but rather 
     shift it to the question of who will pay to clean up MTBE and 
     how much cleanup should occur.
       Even if the synthetic compound were banned overnight--a 
     highly unlikely prospect--California would still have to 
     defend its water supplies for many years against MTBE-laced 
     groundwater from past fuel leaks.
       MTBE is a key component of a ``cleaner-burning gasoline'' 
     that has been used in most of California's 27 million 
     vehicles for the past three years. While the gasoline has 
     been credited for removing 300 hundred tons of tailpipe 
     poisons every day in the state, it also has created a 
     Pandora's box underground.
       Increasingly, the compound has found its way into 
     underground reservoirs, in storm-water runoff, in 
     recreational lakes and in wells across the country. In 
     California, MTBE has contaminated 10,000 groundwater sites 
     and tainted Tahoe, Donner, Shasta and several other lakes. It 
     also has knocked out wells in several communities. In South 
     Lake Tahoe, more than a dozen wells have been shut down due 
     to MTBE contamination.
       While scientists are still studying MTBE's health effects--
     the federal government classifies it as a ``possible'' 
     cancer-causing agent

[[Page S2850]]

     in humans--minute amounts of the pollutant can spoil wells by 
     imparting a bitter taste and solvent-like ordor.
       Already some marina-related businesses have taken an 
     economical hit due to water utilities banning fuel-spitting 
     power craft from reservoirs tapped for drinking water. 
     Filtration plants can't remove MTBE without expensive 
     treatment upgrades.
       But the biggest MTBE bill is yet to come, and, one way or 
     another, consumers will ultimately pay for it. That will be 
     in the cleanup of MTBE-laden fuel that has spilled and leaked 
     from pipelines and storage tanks. The restoration is expected 
     to take many years, at a cost of tens of millions to hundreds 
     of millions of dollars a year, a major University of 
     California study recently concluded.
       Makers of gasoline and MTBE put the onus on tank owners and 
     the environmental officials who regulate the tanks and the 
     fuels.
       Officials at Shell Oil Co. headquartered in Houston told 
     The Bee that its 1992 paper describing the environmental 
     downside of MTBE was hardly news.
       ``(It) was in the public domain and already accessible to 
     regulators,'' the company said in a prepared statement. A 
     spokeswoman said it was based on information disseminated at 
     a 1986 pollution control conference co-sponsored by the 
     American Petroleum Institute.
       In the 1980s, the chemical properties making MTBE 
     problematic in water ``were widely known,'' said Charlie 
     Drevna, chief spokesman for Oxygenated Fuels Association, 
     which represents makers of MTBE and other oxygen-bearing fuel 
     components. ``What wasn't known was that the (underground 
     storage tank) program in this country was in total 
     shambles.''
       But the leaking tanks problem has been widely reported for 
     at least the past decade when the U.S. Environmental 
     Protection Agency ordered the tanks replaced or upgraded. 
     Most major brand gasoline stations in California complied by 
     the federal deadline last December.
       California motorists have been paying for a good part of 
     the cleanups from leaking tanks since 1992. They pay about 
     1.2 cents per gallon at the pump toward a $180 million-a-year 
     state cleanup fund that reimburses mostly small businesses.
       The argument that industry should bear more responsibility 
     for the MTBE pollution is beginning to grow. In the past few 
     months, attorneys suing oil companies on behalf of 
     individuals and utilities over MTBE pollution in California, 
     South Carolina and Maine have joined forces. The common 
     allegation is that the oil companies knew or should have 
     known that adding more MTBE to gasoline posed a major threat 
     to drinking water sources.
       ``It would have been astonishing for corporations of this 
     size and complexity not to have known the risk that an 
     additive to a product that would become so widespread would 
     pose to the environment and to the public,'' said Victor 
     Sher, a Sacramento attorney representing the South Tahoe 
     Public Utility District.
       Sher said his lawsuit, filed in 1999, is the first in the 
     nation by a public water supplier that goes after fuel makers 
     on grounds of product liability.
       While the environmentally troublesome properties of MTBE 
     were noted in technical papers from the oil industry and 
     federal regulators, Sher said he has yet to find evidence 
     that the oil industry ever raised those problems before 
     policy-makers as they deliberated the rules for the cleaner-
     burning gasoline.
       ``They should have been telling the regulators, and they 
     should have been looking for alternatives,'' Shea said.
       Shell Oil officials say EPA regulators had plenty of notice 
     in the 1980s, well before 1992 when refiners began to 
     substantially increase the chemical's use to meet the new 
     federal cleaner-burning fuel rules.
       ``The literature then available indicated to government 
     regulators, manufacturers of MTBE and to gasoline 
     manufacturers, including Shell, that the then perceived 
     benefits outweighed the then perceived risks,'' the company 
     statement said.
       Liability aside, the knowledge of MTBE's downside could 
     have changed what ended up in the gas tanks of millions of 
     motorists. The gasoline additive is now the fourth top 
     selling chemical in the United States, with more than 9 
     million tons of it sold annually.
       Water suppliers say they certainly would have raised a 
     fuss.
       ``We would have fought like hell to keep it out of 
     gasoline,'' said Bob Reeb, of the Association of California 
     Water Agencies. ``It appears to be a classic case of 
     placing corporate profits above public health.''
       If that's the case, Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, 
     D-Los Angeles, said, ``We can make the argument that this 
     industry has a very high level of responsibility to provide 
     the cleanup of this contamination.''
       MTBE's critics point out that the trail of responsibility 
     can be traced back at least to 1986 when three researchers 
     from Maine laid out the basic characteristics of MTBE in 
     discussion today: that it moves farther and faster in 
     groundwater, last longer, and is much more difficult to 
     filter out than other gasoline compounds.
       The presentation was at a Houston conference attended by 
     dozens of regulators and industry scientists on ground-water 
     pollutants. It was sponsored by the American Petroleum 
     Institute and the National Well Water Association.
       Two of the Maine paper's authors said their presentation 
     didn't seem to make much of an impact on regulators and 
     industry.
       ``There just seemed to be a feeling that there wasn't 
     anything that was necessary to do now, which puzzles me in 
     retrospect,'' said Peter Garrett, one of the authors. ``I 
     think it was because MTBE was hailed as being the chemical of 
     the future because of its potential to cut down on air 
     pollution.''
       Co-author Marcel Moreau, now an expert on underground 
     tanks, said all of the technical information about the 
     chemical's characteristics was freely supplied by ARCO.
       But as momentum was building on Capitol Hill toward 
     requiring oxygenated compounds like MTBE in gasoline to 
     combat smog, no such environmental concerns surfaced in the 
     public debate either from industry, environmentalists or 
     regulators, according to interviews with key participants.
       MTBE's many critics express amazement that a chemical could 
     have been introduced into the environment on such a massive 
     scale with so little data on its toxicology or behavior in 
     the environment.
       When first added to premium gasoline in 1979, scientists 
     had produced no studies on MTBE's long-term health effects.
       ``It is astonishing that such a technological process could 
     have been started without sufficient technological 
     information that would have enabled us to expose possible 
     adverse health effects of the compound,'' wrote Fiorella 
     Belpoggi, lead researcher in a 1995 investigation of MTBE's 
     cancer-causing potential.
       The recent study of MTBE done by the University of 
     California similarly found that regulators did not do enough 
     to assess MTBE's potential environmental impacts before 
     allowing its huge rise.
       In California, health officials testified recently before 
     the state Legislature that they did not realize that MTBE 
     posed a major groundwater threat until 1995, when Santa 
     Monica reported contamination of one of its wells.
       Ironically, companies like ARCO continued to spend lavishly 
     in 1996 to promote MTBE as an environmentally friendly 
     product that made gasoline burn cleaner.
       The lack of toxicology data remains even today, more than 
     three years after MTBE's introduction in California on a 
     massive scale.
       Industry representatives insist that expensive upgrades of 
     underground tanks already mandated under law will curtail the 
     MTBE problem.
       But others say evidence shows too many other ways that MTBE 
     can get into water wells.
       James Giannopoulos, principal engineer with the state Water 
     Resources Control Board, made a similar point during a recent 
     MTBE hearing in Sacramento.
       ``Even a small failure rate of the more than 50,000 
     upgraded tanks, we believe constitutes a good water quality 
     reason to eliminate MTBE from gasoline,'' he said.
                                 ______