Clean Fuels Industry Disputes UC Study On Gasoline
24 February 1999
Clean Fuels Industry Disputes UC Study On Gasoline; EPA Joins Industry Group in Documenting Benefits of Clean Air Component
SACRAMENTO, Calif.--Feb. 23, 1999--The clean fuels industry today urged the Davis Administration not to base policy decisions about the future of California's cleaner-burning gasoline program on a University of California report on MTBE, a document that dramatically underestimates the gasoline component's superior clean-air performance.The Oxygenated Fuels Association is not alone in its position. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), has documented the significant air-quality benefits of MTBE in a recent letter to the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA).
"The University of California report is flawed and should not form the basis of policy decisions about the future of California's cleaner-burning gasoline program," said Terry Wigglesworth, executive director of the Oxygenated Fuels Association (OFA), at a hearing in Sacramento today on the UC study. "The federal government shares many of our concerns and Californians should not be swayed by the hysteria and misinformation now surrounding MTBE."
In a letter to Cal/EPA regarding the value of MTBE and other oxygenates, Robert Perciasepe, assistant administrator for US EPA, wrote, "It is important that the federal and state governmental organizations involved in this issue have a full and consistent understanding of the facts before policy decisions are made."
Perciasepe added, "Although it is possible to produce non-oxygenated fuel that meets California Phase 2 reformulated gasoline (CaRFG2) requirements, US EPA is concerned that the report does not address the role that MTBE and other oxygenates currently play in meeting reformulated gasoline requirements."
Perciasepe continued, "... the use of oxygenates directly reduces carbon monoxide (CO) and toxics emissions. Further, the addition of oxygenates to gasoline also dilutes other fuel components and thereby reduces sulfur, olefin, aromatic, and benzene levels, regardless of whether the fuel is used in current or older technology vehicles."
Perciasepe also emphasized EPA's concern about the UC study's reliance on toluene as a replacement for MTBE. "Using toluene instead of MTBE would increase aromatic content, increase the toxic and benzene emissions of such a fuel and cause the fuel not to meet CaRFG2 requirements," Perciasepe said, adding, "Therefore, the report does not present a realistic assessment of the cost associated with a non-oxygenated replacement fuel that maintains the air quality benefits of CaRFG2."
The Davis Administration is holding hearings today in Sacramento to determine whether it can rely on the report as the basis of a policy decision to phase out MTBE, an oxygenate added to gasoline to make it burn more cleanly. A second hearing will be held in Sacramento on Wednesday.
OFA's Wigglesworth applauded US EPA's letter saying, "The agency's conclusions mirror what OFA and many others have long said: MTBE has been, and continues to be, highly effective at cleaning the air. The UC report is not complete and should not form the basis of policy decisions about the future of MTBE in California."
Copies of the letter from US EPA to California EPA are available from OFA.
The Oxygenated Fuels Association is an international trade association, incorporated in 1983, to advance the use of, and knowledge about, oxygenated fuel additives that improve the combustion performance of gasoline, thereby reducing automobile pollution. For more information about oxygenates, please visit our web site at www.ofa.net.
