[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 157 (Tuesday, November 9, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S14408-S14409]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. INHOFE (for himself, Mrs. Feinstein, and Mr. Smith of New 
        Hampshire):
  S. 1886. A bill to amend the Clean Air Act to permit the Governor of 
a State to waive the oxygen content requirement for reformulated 
gasoline, to encourage development of voluntary standards to prevent 
and control release of methyl tertiary butyl ether from underground 
storage tanks, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Environment 
and Public Works.


          oxygen content requirement for reformulated gasoline

 Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I am pleased to join with 
Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, the chairman of the Clean Air 
Subcommittee, in introducing a bill, S. 1886, to allow the governor of 
a state to waive the oxygenate content requirement for reformulated or 
clean-burning gasoline. The bill also requires U.S. EPA to conduct a 
study on whether voluntary standards to prevent releases of MTBE from 
underground tanks are necessary.
  This is the fifth bill I have introduced in this Congress to address 
the widespread contamination of drinking water by MTBE in my state. I 
do this in hopes that this bill will be a straightforward solution to a 
very serious problem--MTBE detections in ground and surface water in my 
state and at lest 41 other states.
  The Clean Air Act requires that cleaner-burning reformulated gasoline 
(RFG) be sold in areas with the worst violations of ozone standards: 
Los Angeles, San Diego, Hartford, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, 
Baltimore, Houston, Milwaukee, Sacramento. (In addition, some states 
and areas have opted to use reformulated gasoline as way to achieve 
clean air.) Second, the Act prescribes a formula for reformulated 
gasoline, including the requirement that reformulated gasoline contain 
2.0 percent oxygen, by weight.
  In response to this requirement, refiners have put the oxygenate MTBE 
in over 85 percent of reformulated gasoline now in use. MTBE stands for 
methyl tertiary butyl ether. The problem is that increasingly, MTBE is 
being detected in drinking water. MTBE is a known animal carcinogen and 
a possible human carcinogen, according to U.S. EPA. It has a very 
unpleasant odor and taste, as well.
  The Inhofe-Feinstein bill, S. 1886, would allow governors, 
upon notification to U.S. EPA, to waive the 2.0% oxygenate requirement, 
as long as the gasoline meets the other requirements in the law for 
reformulated gasoline.

  On July 27, the U.S. EPA Blue Ribbon Panel on Oxygenates in Gasoline 
recommended that the 2 percent oxygenate requirement be ``removed in 
order to provide flexibility to blend adequate fuel supplies in a cost-
effective manner while quickly reducing usage of MTBE and maintaining 
air quality benefits.'' In addition, the panel agreed that ``the use of 
MTBE should be reduced substantially.'' Importantly, the panel 
recommended that ``Congress act quickly to clarify federal and state 
authority to regulate and/or eliminate the use of gasoline additives 
that pose a threat to drinking water supplies.''
  This bill, while not totally repealing the 2 percent oxygenate 
requirement, moves us in that direction. It gives states that choose to 
meet clean air requirements without oxygenates to do so. It allows 
states that choose an oxygenate, such as ethanol, to do so. Areas 
required to use reformulated gasoline for cleaner air will still be 
required to use it. The gasoline will have a different but clean 
formulation. Areas will continue to have to meet clean air standards.
  MTBE has contaminated groundwater at over 10,000 sites in California, 
according to the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. Of 10,972 groundwater 
sites sampled, 39 percent had MTBE, says the state Department of Health 
Services. Of 765 surface water sources sampled, 287 or 38% had MTBE.
  Nationally, one EPA-funded study found, of 34 states, MTBE was 
present more than 20 percent of the time in 27 states. A U.S. 
Geological Survey report had similar findings. An October 1999 
Congressional Research Service analysis concluded that 41 states have 
had MTBE detections in water.
  In California, Governor Davis concluded that MTBE ``poses a 
significant risk to California's environment'' and directed that MTBE 
be phased out in California by December 31, 2002. There is not a 
sufficient supply of ethanol or other oxygenates to fully replace MTBE 
in California, without huge gas price spikes and gasoline supply 
disruptions. In addition, California can make clean-burning gas without 
oxygenates.

[[Page S14409]]

Therefore, California is in the impossible position of having to meet a 
federal requirement that is (1) contaminating the water and (2) is not 
necessary to achieve clean air.
  On April 12, 1999, Governor Davis asked U.S. EPA for a waiver of the 
2% oxygenate requirement. I too wrote U.S. EPA--on May 18, 1999; 
December 3, 1998; September 29, 1998; September 28, 1998; September 14, 
1998; November 3, 1997; September 24, 1997; April 22, 1997; and April 
11, 1997. I have met with EPA officials several times and have talked 
directly to Administrator Carol Browner. To date, EPA has not granted 
California a waiver of the two percent. Again, today I call on EPA to 
act. In the meantime, I will continue to urge Congress to act.
  Time is of the essence. California Governor Davis is phasing out MTBE 
in our state, but the federal law requiring 2 percent oxygenates 
remains, putting our state in an untenable position. Refiners needs a 
long lead time to retool their facilities and time is growing short.
  A major University of California study released last year concluded 
that MTBE provides ``no significant air quality benefit'' but that its 
use poses ``the potential for regional degradation of water resources, 
especially ground water. . . .'' Oxygenates, say the experts, are not 
necessary for reformulated gasoline.
  California has developed a gasoline formula that provide flexibility 
and provides clean air. Called the ``predictive model,'' it guarantees 
clean-burning RFG gas with oxygenates, with less than 2 percent 
oxygenates and with no oxygenates. Several refiners, including Chevron 
and Tosco, are selling MTBE-free gas in California, for example, in the 
Lake Tahoe area.
  Under S. 1886, air standards would still have to be met and gasoline 
would have to meet all other requirements of the federal reformulated 
gasoline program, for example, the limits on benzene, heavy metals, 
emission of oxides of nitrogen.
  This is a minimal bill that will give California and other states the 
relief they need from a unwarranted, unnecessary requirement. It will 
allow states that want oxygenates in their gasoline to use them and 
those that do not to not use them.
  The bill does not undo the Clean Air Act. The bill does not degrade 
air quality.
  Importantly, it can stop the contamination of drinking water in may 
state by MTBE.
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