[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 58 (Thursday, May 11, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3919-S3921]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BOND (for himself, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Ashcroft, 
        and Mr. Fitzgerald):
  S. 2546. A bill to amend the Clean Air Act to prohibit the use of 
methyl tertiary butyl ether, to provide flexibility within the 
oxygenate requirement of the reformulated gasoline program of the 
Environmental Protection Agency, to promote the use of renewable 
ethanol, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Environmental and 
Public Works.


              clean air and water preservation act of 2000

  Mr. BOND. Mr. President, it is a pleasure for me to introduce the 
Clean Air and Water Preservation Act of 2000 with my colleague from 
Illinois, Senator Durbin. Our bill will accomplish the following: 1. 
Phases down to elimination MTBE within 3 years of enactment; 2. 
Maintains the oxygenate standard; 3. Probably has the strongest 
environmental anti-backsliding provisions of any bill; 4. A temporary 
waiver from oxygenate standard could be granted if the USDA and DOE 
certify that there is an issue with supply; and 5. Highway 
apportionment percentages will stay the same.
  Low grain prices high fuel prices, and the clean water problems 
associated with MTBE have highlighted the need for this bipartisan 
effort to protect our water, protect our air, and to protect our rural 
economy. Our region and the nation require a renewable, environmentally 
friendly alternative to MTBE that helps create local jobs, which adds 
value to our farmer's product, which moves us away from an energy-
hostage situation where our reliance on foreign-produced oil makes our 
producers, consumers and economy subject to the whims of international 
cartel autocrats, and protects our air and water.
  My colleagues and friends on this issue, Senators Daschle and Lugar, 
have also introduced a bill on this issue. I commend them for their 
involvement and look forward to working with them; however, I do not 
believe their bill solves all the problems. Specifically, their bill 
eliminates the oxygenate requirement.
  The federal oxygen-content requirement was adopted for several 
reasons. First, Congress understood that oxygenates provide a source of 
clean octane-displacing toxic compounds such as benzene and reducing 
ozone-forming exhaust emissions of hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide. 
Second, Congress recognized the energy-security benefits of 
substituting a certain percentage of imported petroleum with 
domestically-produced, renewable fuels such as ethanol. Finally, the 
Congress hoped the Federal oxygen requirement could provide new market 
opportunities for farmers by stimulating new demand for ethanol. I 
believe each of these objectives remain as valid today as they were in 
1990.
  Unfortunately, the refiners' decision to utilize MTBE, rather than 
ethanol, has created a serious and growing problem nationwide. The U.S. 
Geological Survey reports that MTBE has been detected in 21 percent of 
the drinking water wells in RFG areas nationwide. States with detected 
MTBE water contamination include Missouri, Illinois, California, Texas, 
Virginia, Florida, Connecticut, and many more.
  It is important to recognize that the Clean Air Act Amendments of 
1990 did not mandate the use of MTBE. Indeed, in Chicago and other 
areas where ethanol RFG is used, the program has been declared a huge 
air quality success. Replicating the Chicago ethanol RFG model in areas 
where MTBE is being used today would assure continued air quality 
progress without compromising water quality by its use. It would also 
provide a tremendous economic stimulus to rural America by creating 
value-added demand for as

[[Page S3920]]

much as 500 million bushels of grain. The Department of Agriculture 
recently reported that replacing MTBE with ethanol in RFG markets would 
increase net farm income $1 billion annually, create 13,000 new jobs, 
enhance our balance of trade and reduce farm program costs over the 
next ten years. Moreover, USDA reports ethanol can replace MTBE without 
price spikes or shortages in supplies within three years.
  Let us be very clear about this issue. The environmental problem at 
hand is real. However, the problem is not ethanol, the problem is MTBE.
  Fortunately some States are already taking action to ban MTBE. Some 
are not moving fast enough. We need to make certain that all States ban 
MTBE to eliminate its contamination of our water supplies. To ensure 
that we do not have a piecemeal approach to banning MTBE it is 
important to pass legislation to ensure we have a national solution.
  This bill is supported by the National Corn Growers, Missouri Corn 
Growers, Renewable Fuels Association, and the Missouri Farm Bureau. I 
look forward to other groups supporting this bill as well.
  I am pleased that Senator Durbin, Senator Grassley, and Senator 
Ashcroft have joined me in introducing this vitally important bill. I 
look forward to working with them and all the other members that join 
us in this endeavor to ensure that we have a national solution that 
will protect our water and still ensure that we maintain our air 
quality benefits produced from the Federal oxygenate requirement. In 
addition, we will be promoting positive energy and rural economic 
policy objectives, which includes ethanol.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I am pleased to join my colleague from 
Missouri, Senator Bond, in introducing the Clean Air and Water 
Preservation Act of 2000, a bill that will ban the gasoline additive 
MTBE and promote the use of renewable ethanol fuel.
  By now, many of us are aware of the dangers methyl tertiary butyl 
ether (MTBE) poses to our environment, our water supply, and our 
communities. Although this additive has only been widely used for about 
five years, it is now one of the most frequently detected volatile 
organic chemicals in drinking water supplies across the nation. In 
fact, MTBE contamination has affected communities in my home state of 
Illinois raising many public health concerns.
  This legislation addresses these problems by banning MTBE within 
three years and urging refiners to replace it with ethanol. The bill 
also increases consumer protection by requiring gasoline stations to 
label pumps that still sell MTBE. And the Environmental Protection 
Agency is directed to assist states in getting the chemical out of 
their groundwater.
  Furthermore, the Clean Air and Water Preservation Act of 2000 
includes strict anti-backsliding provisions to ensure we do not lose 
the air quality benefits that we have already achieved. Protection from 
toxic chemicals and environmentally sound emission levels will not be 
compromised.
  Most important, this legislation upholds the air quality benefits of 
the reformulated gasoline (RFG) program by maintaining the oxygenate 
standard. Adding oxygen to our gasoline has helped clean the air in 
many cities across the nation. With the use of ethanol, the Chicago RFG 
program has proven highly successful in improving the air quality in 
Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.
  I am proud to say that Illinois is the nation's largest ethanol 
producer and that one in every six rows of Illinois corn--280 million 
bushels--goes to ethanol production. But, an expanded role for this 
renewable fuel is more than a boost to industry; it is jobs to rural 
America, and it is energy security. As we look for solutions to high 
oil prices, we must remember that ethanol is a viable alternative 
fuel--domestically produced and environmentally friendly. In fact, 
every 23 gallons of ethanol displaces a barrel of foreign oil.
  I commend the Clinton administration and Senators Daschle and Lugar 
for their efforts aimed at solving the problems associated with MTBE 
and opening a dialogue on renewable fuel content standards. However, I 
strongly feel we need to maintain our commitment to preserving the 
oxygenate standard, which has proven to be integral to achieving the 
goals of the Clean Air Act.
  The Clean Air and Water Preservation Act of 2000 is good for our 
environment and public health and a boost for rural economies. I hope 
my colleagues will join me in supporting this legislation.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I am pleased to join my colleagues 
Senator Bond and Senator Durbin, as an original cosponsor to the Clean 
Air and Water Preservation Act of 2000. I commend them for their 
leadership in resolving a very real problem--not a phony problem.
  The real problem is that MTBE is contaminating our Nation's water 
supplies.
  The phony problem is the proposition that the Clean Air Act's 
oxygenate standard caused the MTBE water contamination.
  Unfortunately, powerful, influential forces are trying to sucker 
Congress and the American public into embracing the phony problem.
  Some propagandists of the phony problem may be motivated by greed. 
After all, if the petroleum industry gets its way, its profits will 
balloon. If they can get Congress or the administration to grant 
waivers of the oxygenate standard, big oil will be able to squeeze out 
the 3 to 4 percent of the market currently supplied by alternatives.
  The Department of Energy has determined that even a small amount of 
alternative fuels can save consumers billions of dollars each year by 
leveraging lower gasoline prices.
  Petroleum companies also tell us that they can produce a gasoline 
just as clean for the air, but without oxygenates. Of course, they tell 
you that it will come at some extra cost.
  Mr. President, I must ask my colleagues: Do we really need to give 
the petroleum industry both the ability and the excuse to jack up 
gasoline prices and further gouge American consumers?
  Of course not. And the way to make certain this does not happen is by 
enacting the Clean Air and Water Preservation Act of 2000.
  Other propagandists of the phony problem may be political 
opportunists seeking to engage in some self-serving election-year 
shenanigans.
  The Clinton administration is facing a tough political dilemma. 
Chevron and other petroleum interests have convinced California's 
Governor that the only solution to the MTBE problem is to waive the 
oxygenate requirement.
  California represents enormous political stakes for November's 
elections. Understandably, the Clinton administration does not want to 
say ``no'' to California.
  But the Clinton administration does not want to say ``no'' to 
America's farmers. If the administration gives California and other 
states a waiver from the oxygenate standard, they will have single-
handedly destroyed a $1 billion per year market for America's farmers.
  So, what's the easy political solution? Simple. Throw the hot-potato 
into the laps of Congress. Hold a press conference laying out quote, 
end-quote, legislative principles for solving the MTBE problem.
  By dumping this on Congress, the administration does not have to make 
the tough decisions, and will be in a position to second-guess and 
attack anything and everything Congress does do to try to work this 
out.
  And the irony of all of this, is that had the Clinton administration 
followed Congressional intent about the Clean Air Act Reformulated 
Fuels Program, instead of listening to the oil companies and some 
misguided environmentalists, other oxygenates such as ethanol could 
have competed with MTBE, and we would have far less MTBE water 
contamination today.
  The Clinton administration was warned loud and clear about the health 
and environmental problems of MTBE. I personally sent many letters and 
made a lengthy floor statement in 1993 warning then about MTBE and 
urging that they not give Big Oil a regulation guaranteeing them a 
market monopoly over the oxygenated problem.
  Anyone who has ever smelled MTBE, knows that had consumers been given 
a choice, they would have overwhelmingly chose to buy reformulated fuel 
made with ethanol, not MTBE.
  So the Clinton administration created this MTBE problem in the first

[[Page S3921]]

place, and now they tell the world that the only way to correct it is 
for Congress to fix it.

  That's just not true. But the truth sort of got lost during the 
administration's press conference by EPA's Carol Browner. She forgot to 
tell the American public the truth that each and every State has the 
authority to protect its water supplies from MTBE contamination. As 
long as the States pass laws designed to protect the water, as opposed 
to protecting the air, the Clean Air Act does not legally pre-empt the 
States from taking action on their own.
  And I received assurances from EPA during a recent hearing that they 
would never attempt to stop a State from protecting water supplies from 
MTBE contamination.
  Now, some would argue that the oil industry would try to challenge 
such efforts in court.
  Mr. President, that proposition is ridiculous. The oil companies 
chose to use MTBE instead of ethanol. They are now liable for what 
could be billions of dollars of MTBE clean up costs. And these 
liability costs mount with every day that passes, that the oil 
companies refuse to replace MTBE with other oxygenates.
  Therefore, who in their right mind could think that the oil companies 
are stupid enough to take court action to block a State from banning 
the use of MTBE?
  So, why didn't EPA's Carol Browner announce to the world the States 
already have the authority to ban MTBE--the source of the real problem?
  Well, if the administration admits the truth, and if they fail to 
convince Americans and Congress that only Congress can fix this 
problem, then the Clinton administration is stuck back at ``square 
one'' having to choose between California or America's farmers who have 
suffered the lowest prices in decades.
  Mr. President, there are others pushing the phony problem who may 
simply be struggling to save face, hoping that they not suffer the 
embarrassment of being proven wrong--wrong in their efforts to help 
petroleum interests in securing a Clinton administration regulation 
guaranteeing that MTBE would monopolize the oxygenate market.
  These environmentalists would like the public to believe that ethanol 
was never really a viable option--not then, not now. If they ever 
concede that point, then it will be clear to Americans that these 
environmentalists were key promoters of what has turned out to be one 
of the biggest environmental crises ever to face America.
  Mr. President, there are some environmentalists who do not like 
ethanol, simply because it is something that can be made by farmers. 
They don't like farmers because sometimes they have to use fertilizers 
and chemicals. It is that simple-minded.
  Mr. President, the real problem is MTBE, and the real solution to 
this problem is passing the bill introduced today by our colleagues 
Senator Bond and Senator Durbin.
  I warn my colleagues, however, that if they buy into the phony 
problem, they will end up having to buy into phony solutions.
  For instance, the Clinton administration suggested that Congress 
might want to only reduce the amount of MTBE used, as opposed to 
banning it altogether. Well, that's a phony solution.
  No level of MTBE in gasoline can protect our water supply.
  My State of Iowa is facing an MTBE water contamination disaster. 
First, understand, we sell no Clean Air Act reformulated gasoline in 
Iowa. Second, understand that for years now, no gasoline was supposed 
to be sold in Iowa that contained more than 1 percent MTBE unless 
warning labels were posted.
  Nevertheless, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources recently found 
that 29 percent of Iowa's water supplies tested contained MTBE above 
the acceptable levels established by EPA.
  So what does this mean? Simply this: MTBE is used in conventional 
fuel as an octane enhancer and will contaminate your water.
  If a State is allowed to waive out of the oxygenate requirement, MTBE 
will still be used and will continue to contaminate our water supplies.
  It is phony to argue the oxygenate requirement is the problem, and it 
is phony to argue waiving or eliminating the oxygenate requirement will 
protect our water supplies.
  Mr. President, this is just one of many phony issues that we are 
being asked to embrace. I will be speaking further about this at a 
later time.
  But in closing, I ask my colleagues to cosponsor our legislation. It 
provides real solutions to the real problem: MTBE water contamination.
                                 ______