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California Newspapers Say 'Time to Replace MTBE,'

29 June 1998

California Newspapers Say 'Time to Replace MTBE,' Cite 'Alternatives Such as Ethanol' for Clean Air

    SAN FRANCISCO, June 26 -- Leading California newspapers have
called for action to replace the controversial gasoline additive MTBE,
following a laboratory report that the chemical "has contaminated groundwater
at more than 10,000 sites and lasts longer and spreads faster than plain
gasoline."
    In Northern California, where ethanol is being marketed successfully as a
safe clean-air gasoline alternative, the Contra Costa Times said in an
editorial:
    "The real threat to the state's drinking water is not leaking gasoline
tanks. It is MTBE.  State water officials should be doing all they can to work
with refiners to quickly replace the dangerous chemical with a safer gasoline
additive."
    The Knight-Ridder newspaper is published in Walnut Creek, Calif., in
Contra Costa County, a major suburban area across the bay from San Francisco.
Contra Costa is one of three large-population Northern California counties
where Tosco Refining Co. has replaced MTBE with ethanol in a pilot project
involving 50 gasoline stations.
    "The quicker other refineries replace MTBE, the better," the Contra Costa
Times said in an editorial entitled "Time to Replace MTBE."
    In the Oakland Tribune, an editorial headlined "Take MTBE Out of Our
Gasoline" said:
    "A $600,000 study conducted by the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory and
released last week did little to improve the public's confidence in the air-
cleaning gasoline additive MTBE and its effect on the environment.
    " ... Other additives such as ethanol can do the same job without
compromising our water supplies," the Oakland newspaper said.
    The Tribune called for a "complete reexamination of MTBE" by the
California Air Resources Board and criticized the state legislature for
failing to move quickly against MTBE.
    "The reaction from our state legislature has been a tiny flurry of
activity aimed at procuring a Band-Aid to cover a gaping wound," the newspaper
said.
    The Sacramento Bee said in an editorial:
    "In the most comprehensive assessment of the extent to which gasoline
containing MTBE has crept into groundwater supplies, Lawrence Livermore has
estimated that more than 10,000 sites are contaminated.  Examining the tests
of 1,858 monitoring wells, scientists found evidence of MTBE nearly 80 percent
of the time...
    "MTBE has unique chemical properties that allow it to migrate through
groundwater supplies, giving the water a turpentine-like odor at minute
quantities.
    "MTBE may also cause cancer, which is why state health officials have
suggested a drinking-water standard for MTBE at only 14 parts per billion."