[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 19]
[Senate]
[Page 26638]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                                  MTBE

  Mr. SMITH of New Hampshire. Mr. President, we are moving into the 
season of festivities. Hopefully, we will get an opportunity to 
celebrate the holidays. Unfortunately, for many in my State of New 
Hampshire and in other States across the country, this is a holiday 
season filled with the anxiety that comes with knowing their water is 
contaminated.
  This contamination is caused by a Federal mandate that I believe is 
wrong. Another year has gone by and Congress has still done nothing to 
right that wrong.
  Over the past few years, a good deal of the Nation has learned 
firsthand of the damage that MTBE has done to our drinking water 
supply. That certainly is true of many communities in New Hampshire 
where it has become a crisis where people cannot even drink their water 
or shower with it.
  I have been fighting for the past 2 years to get the Senate to vote 
on a bill that will solve this problem. I am pleased that last week the 
majority leader made a commitment to me that the Senate would at least 
vote on this issue before the end of next February. I am grateful for 
that. Until that day arrives, though, I plan to come to this Chamber on 
a regular basis, while we are in session, to remind Senators of the 
terrible impact that MTBE is having on our Nation and on so many 
thousands of people and to remind them that it is very important that 
we act now.
  For the past 2 years, I have met with a number of small businesses 
and families across New Hampshire who have been devastated by this 
problem. They cannot sell their homes. They cannot drink their water. 
They cannot shower with water. They have filters in their basements to 
get the MTBE out of the water.
  According to the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, 
there may be up to 40,000 private wells with MTBE contamination. Of 
those, 8,000 may have MTBE contamination of above State health 
standards.
  This is a crisis. We have to deal with this. I know it is nice to say 
we can make money by replacing MTBE with ethanol and all that. That is 
fine. Make all the money you want. But we need to get this issue 
resolved.
  In many instances, the State has had to provide bottled water to my 
constituents. They are installing and maintaining extremely expensive 
treatment equipment. These costs are high. Particularly hard hit have 
been communities in the southern tier of my State: Arlington Lake in 
Salem, Frost Road in Derry, Green Hills Estates in Raymond, and so many 
more. But I want to briefly tell you a story about one particular site 
in Richmond, NH. It is in the southwestern part of the State. It is a 
beautiful area, and the type of beauty for which New Hampshire is so 
well known.
  In August, I visited the Four Corners Store and several surrounding 
homes in the town of Richmond. It is called the Four Corners Store 
because it is at a rural crossroad, like so many in America, and takes 
up one of the four corners. Common sense is very pervasive in New 
Hampshire.
  Mr. and Mrs. Stickles are the store's proprietors. When they 
purchased that country store a few years ago, they believed the MTBE 
contamination problem had been solved. They do have new underground 
storage tanks and are completely in compliance with the law.
  Unfortunately, the MTBE plume from years ago still persists. A number 
of the nearby homes are having their wells polluted. It has 
contaminated a number of homes near the Four Corners Store.
  I met with the owners of the store and visited those homes. The 
Goulas and the Frampton families were kind enough to invite me into 
their homes. They showed me the treatment systems that had been 
installed by the State. They shared their concerns about their health 
and their children's health. At one of the homes lives a young couple 
with small children.
  First and foremost, they are worried about the long-term health 
impacts on their children. They told me about the daily inconveniences 
of having to deal with this contamination in their wells. They were 
told the water was safe for showers; however, showers should only be 
with cold water, limited to 10 minutes, and well ventilated. That is 
what they were told. So take a cold shower and make sure it is well 
ventilated.
  It is outrageous that we would stand by and allow this to continue in 
our country while the debate rages about replacing the MTBE additive 
with ethanol. Let's get real. We need to deal with this problem now. I 
intend to fight for these constituents throughout the rest of this 
session and also early into next year until we get this legislation 
passed. It is not right. Sometimes you just have to speak out when 
things are not right--that somebody should make a profit at the expense 
of somebody else getting sick and not being able to use their water.
  Making a profit is wonderful. That is the American way. I am all for 
it. But we do not need a guaranteed MTBE market. We do not need a 
guaranteed ethanol market. We do not need a guaranteed anything.
  Let the market play, but we have to be able to replace MTBE with 
something, and we cannot mandate that it be ethanol. It is not right 
for those of you in ethanol States to make the people in my State have 
to suffer.
  It seems to me the passage of this bill should be easy. I tried for 
weeks and months and years to reach an accommodation. I have debated 
every Senator who deals with ethanol privately and publicly, behind the 
scenes and in committee, but we cannot seem to get agreement.
  I urge my colleagues from all States to join with me to pass this 
legislation now so we can get the MTBE out of the wells in New 
Hampshire and many other wells and water supplies throughout the 
country.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The time of the Senator from New Hampshire has 
expired.
  The Senator from Iowa.

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