PROPOSED BAN ON
MTBE GASOLINE ADDITIVE
This is Bill White with the VOA Special English Environment
Report.
The Clinton administration has announced a proposal to ban MTBE, a widely used chemical added to gasoline. MTBE is the chemical Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether. It is added to gasoline to reduce air pollution. It is used in one-third of the gasoline sold in the United States. But MTBE is considered a possible cause of cancer. And it has been found in the nation’s drinking water supplies. The head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Carol Browner, announced the proposal to ban MTBE. Ms. Browner says she will ask Congress to amend the Clean Air Act of 1990. The measure required the use of cleaner-burning gasoline in cars and other vehicles. To do this, oxygen levels in gasoline had to be increased. MTBE increases the level of oxygen in gasoline.
MTBE may have made the air cleaner. However, there is evidence that it is polluting ground water. It enters ground water from leaks in underground fuel tanks.
Most of this pollution has been found in California, which has already acted to ban MTBE. Researchers say an estimated 250,000 leaking fuel tanks may have polluted drinking water in 31 states.
Administration officials want Congress to replace the requirement that led to the use of MTBE. They propose that a small percentage of all fuels be made with safe fuel additives such as ethanol, which is made from grain. Ethanol is now used as a fuel additive in several American states. However, some scientists say ethanol will not help reduce pollution. And, they say burning ethanol may even be a possible health threat.
Ms. Browner says replacing MTBE with ethanol would have only a small effect on gasoline prices. But American oil company representatives say it will cost much more because ethanol must be shipped by truck, not through a pipeline.
Carol Browner says the proposed ban on MTBE would be carried out over several years. She says if the proposed legislation fails, her agency would act on its own to ban MTBE under the Toxic Substance Control Act. That law permits the Environmental Protection Agency to ban chemicals considered an unreasonable risk to the public or the environment.
This VOA Special English Environment Report was written by Cynthia Kirk. This is Bill White.
Source: Voice of America, 3/31/2000
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