[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 95 (Thursday, July 14, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1490]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     APPOINTMENT OF CONFEREES ON H.R. 6, ENERGY POLICY ACT OF 2005

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. HEATHER WILSON

                             of new mexico

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 13, 2005

  Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico. Mr. Speaker, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 
that recently passed the House by a vote of 249-183 included a narrowly 
drafted provision giving manufacturers and distributors of MTBE limited 
liability protections for claims based upon a defective product. I 
voted in favor of this legislation knowing that in conference with the 
Senate, MTBE compromise language would be negotiated with members from 
affected states that would be based on a concept of shared 
responsibility focused on cleanup.
  MTBE has reduced smog from cars and trucks and improved air quality. 
But when MTBE gets in water, it smells and tastes bad and is hard to 
clean up, raising questions about whether we should continue to use it 
to produce cleaner burning gasoline.
  For the last couple of weeks, I have contributed to the discussions 
on an MTBE compromise to recommend to the Energy conferees. I do not 
believe that the views of states impacted by MTBE contamination have 
been adequately taken into account to this point. We are no closer 
today to an acceptable compromise than we were 2 weeks ago. 
Additionally, I am greatly concerned by a draft EPA internal risk study 
that suggests that in high concentration, MTBE is a likely human 
carcinogen. This is the first indication we have had of a public health 
impact of MTBE.
  I continue to believe that a lawsuit based system is the wrong way to 
address this problem. We should spend money on getting the spills 
cleaned up quickly rather than having a lawsuit based system where 
people fight in court for years and the lawyers get a big cut of the 
pie before any cleanup is done.
  I voted in favor of the Democrat motion to instruct conferees 
because, at this point, I think we should move toward the Senate 
language and focus on solving the problem, not litigating it.
  I would be willing to support an MTBE provision that would create a 
joint industry/government financed MTBE remediation trust fund that 
would cover state and local government remediation costs. But 
industry's contribution must be mandatory and the government's 
contribution must be guaranteed and not subject to appropriations.

                          ____________________