-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">
</A> -Cui Bono?-
Agencies say gasoline additive is contaminating water nationwide
Copyright � 2000 Nando Media
Copyright � 2000 Associated Press
By JOHN HOWARD
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (January 21, 2000 10:04 p.m. EST
http://www.nandotimes.com) - MTBE, a widely used gasoline additive that
makes cars burn cleaner, has posed a cruel dilemma: It's making the air
cleaner, but it's polluting the water.
A suspected animal carcinogen with unknown health effects on humans,
MTBE has become the curse of water officials from California to New
England. The additive spreads through water so quickly and thoroughly that
a scant spoonful can foul an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
Leaking from gas stations' underground fuel tanks, it has forced wells to
close, run up millions of dollars in cleanup costs, sparked suits and
prompted state, local and federal investigations into a petrochemical that is
still something of a mystery.
"It's a diabolical chemical. It moves up, it moves down, it moves
everywhere. Our feeling is that as long as MTBE is in gasoline, our
groundwater is in jeopardy," said Dennis Cocking of the South Tahoe
Public Utility District, where 12 of 34 wells were closed because of MTBE.
MTBE has two critical characteristics - its ability to spread quickly, caused
by its high solubility, and its permanency. Even in its tiniest proportions, five
parts per billion, MTBE has an easily detectable smell.
"The stuff moves like wildfire. It increases exponentially. Once you find out
you have a problem, you have a big problem. And once it's in, how do you
get it out?" said Doug Marsano of the Denver-based American Water
Works Association, a consortium of water agencies that has urged
President Clinton to ban MTBE.
According to Marsano, the chemical has been detected in varying amounts
in all 50 states. Significant MTBE contamination also has been found in
such pastoral areas as Ronan, Mont., and Spring Green, Wis., as well as in
major cities like Dallas, Denver and Las Vegas.
"You can see it in a contiguous line from California to the East Coast. One
of the great questions here is why a chemical that we don't have a lot of
information about is being used in such a widespread manner," Marsano
said. "At this point, we think it is a problem in every state, but just how
significant a problem we don't know."
A European study in the mid-1990s linked MTBE to liver and kidney tumors
in mice. The danger to humans is unknown.
"At the levels we're seeing in drinking water, there is no direct human study
that shows cause and effect. The studies being used to assess risk are
essentially studies being done on animals," said California's top drinking
water official, Dr. Dave Spath of the Department of Health Services. "But
the problem with MTBE is whether there is a significant future threat
because of all these tanks that have leaked over many years."
As a result, California - the nation's No. 1 user of MTBE, with about 11
percent of all fuel containing the substance - has banned it by the end of
2002, and other states are expected to follow suit. Eight Northeastern
states from New Jersey to Maine joined to ask Congress to allow them to
decide whether MTBE or similar clean-air additives should be put in their
gasoline.
And an Environmental Protection Agency panel has recommended
strengthening programs to reduce MTBE's presence in drinking water.
The MTBE industry defends the additive.
"Because of cleaner-burning gasoline with MTBE, cities like Los Angeles
are enjoying their best air quality in 50 years," said Terry Wigglesworth,
executive director of the Oxygenated Fuels Association. "MTBE has not
only met, but exceeded expectations."
MTBE, called an oxygenate because it adds oxygen to gasoline, was
developed by oil companies in the 1970s to boost octane and replace
lead. Smog fighters noticed that MTBE improved gasoline combustion and
dramatically reduced tailpipe pollution, in some cases up to 40 percent.
Following the passage of the Clean Air Act in 1990, federal authorities
ordered the phase-in of oxygenates in gasoline sold in the nation's
smoggiest urban areas.
MTBE became the oxygenate of choice. The other best-known oxygenate,
ethanol, is a type of alcohol made from corn and is used widely in the
Midwest. Supporters of ethanol see it as safer; MTBE backers dispute that.
MTBE, or methyl tertiary butyl ether, is now found in the fuel consumed by
70 percent of the nation's cars. About 4.5 billion gallons of the additive are
manufactured annually.
In Santa Monica, hit first and hardest by major MTBE contamination in
1995, the substance leaked into the water supply from the underground
tanks of at least a dozen gas stations.
The city of 92,000 has shut down at least half of its wells and is now
importing most of its water from Southern California's main wholesaler. The
city believes the cleanup could cost $100 million,
"It was quite astounding," said Assistant City Attorney Joe Lawrence. "It
went from a low of 20 ppb to a high of 600 ppb. Once it leaked out, it
created havoc with the drinking water."
Glennville, a scenic mountain town of 300 in the Sierra Nevada, was
devastated by the MTBE that spread into its water supply from a single
leaking underground tank. The contamination registered 20,000 ppb.
"Even the ice had a strange odor," Lori Jauch said. "In the very beginning,
when they came up and told us what was happening, I think everybody in
the community was shocked. They had one meeting, and everybody was
upset."
The town's water supply was shut down, and water is now trucked in from
Bakersfield, an hour to the west.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Wingate
California Director
SKYWATCH INTERNATIONAL
Anomalous Images and UFO Files
http://www.anomalous-images.com
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