-Caveat Lector-
{{Well, where are all those hysterical people who were
recently poisoned by Bush leaving the arsenic level in the
water the same as it has been for fifty years? Why are they
not decrying what Gore has done to our water supply as well as
raising the cost of gasoline?? Locally, too, every gas
station had to dig up and reinstall its underground storage
thanks to these two. This is a new threat and it is very
real. This is far more serious than the 'arsenic' scandal for
watch your prices each week and consider how much of this is
already seeping into our drinking water with NO WAY to stop
it.
~Amelia~}}
From: Howard Rothenburg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Gores Gas Fumes
National Review
Gore's Gas Fumes
Blame the Democrats; they deserve it.
By Melanie Morgan, co-host of a radio show in San Francisco
May 16, 2001 9:15 a.m.
Angry about skyrocketing gasoline prices? Please, feel free
to blame Al
Gore. But don't forget Carol Browner while you're at it.
Now, if you
are interested in doing something about $2-plus gasoline
around many
parts of the country, stay tuned. There is a short-term
solution for
consumers, and all George W. Bush has to do is whip out the
presidential pen and autograph a new Executive Order.
This is no right-wing hyperbole. Here are the facts that you
have not
heard in the mainstream media. Al Gore and Carole Browner,
the former
administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, are
directly
responsible for today's gas-price spiral. Oh, and one other
thing: Gore
and Browner have poisoned thousands, indeed hundreds of
thousands of
water supplies across the country in the process.
First, some history. The Environmental Protection Agency has
been the
prime driver of fitful legislation throughout the previous
three decades
to "clean the air, protect the water, and provide a quality of
life" for
all Americans. The Clean Air Act revisions of 1992 were
loosely knit
threads in an obscure piece of legislation. Tug on the
string, and it
unravels to the energy crisis. As does all liberal
legislation, it
starts out with good intentions: Reduce gasoline mileage and
you will
reap endless rewards; create an oxygenate requirement, so that
all
gasoline must be blended either with ethanol, which corn
lobbyists,
including Archer Daniels Midland, loved, or with the second
choice,
MTBE. MTBE won the high-stakes battle, with a blushing debut
in
California in 1995, quickly spreading all across the country.
MethyllTertiary Butyl Ether: a disaster in the making. It's
the primary
reason gas prices now top $2.09 a gallon in California, with
other
states close behind.
MTBE became the oxygenate of choice because it was cheap to
produce,
easy to introduce to the pipeline, and it instantly added
millions of
dollars to the bottom line for the major oil companies. The
first year
it stepped onto the California stage, the top oil producers
snagged an
incredible $300-million profit. The California Air Resources
Board
trumpeted statistics showing how MTBE reduced air pollution.
This was a
big victory for the environmental lobby.
Only one problem: EPA scientists under Browner, a hand-picked
protégée
of Al Gore, shredded documents in the early 90s which showed
that when
MTBE bonded with water molecules it creates plumes that travel
underground and ruin any aquifer it encounters, at a rate
impossible to
stop.
Any gas station that leaked from underground tanks, (and most
did) would
create plumes of contamination that cannot be cleaned up.
There is no
remedy for MTBE contamination.
The University of California study commissioned by the state
legislature
with the hopes of proving how effective MTBE was in "saving
the
environment" turned up the opposite truth.
"Widespread use of this chemical has resulted in frequent
detections in
samples of shallow groundwater from urban areas throughout the
United
States . this is of concern because MTBE is considered a
possible human
carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency."
Newer studies reveal that MTBE has been detected in 49 out of
50
states. Think of it. A possible human carcinogen in the
entire
country's water supply. Even if you believe the specious
claims that
MTBE cleaned up the air, what about the water? All of this
was the
government's fault. It happened on Al Gore and Carol
Browner's watch.
Confronted repeatedly with evidence that they were devastating
water
supplies across the country, our environmental heroes
stonewalled for
another four years. It gets worse. The EPA turned around and
threatened California with the elimination of all highway
transportation
dollars if the state refused to comply with the oxygenate
requirement.
So what happened next in California, and 35 other states?
The oil companies closed ranks, and closed the markets.
Because millions were at stake, the oil companies, (with some
lukewarm
resistance from Chevron and Unocal) shut down gas supplies
that
contained no reformulation. The oil co