Definition of MTBE from Wikipedia, online encyclopedia

Special report from the Environmental Working Group:

"As Congress considers legal immunity for oil companies more communities go to court over MTBE pollution"
Two years ago, support for Tom DeLay’s MTBE liability shield for oil and chemical companies stalled when documents surfaced showing the companies had, contrary to their claims, aggressively lobbied for MTBE’s adoption as a gasoline additive. The memos and other correspondence showed that oil companies knew the toxic chemical would pollute drinking water, and that they — not the government — had pushed for its adoption anyway.

Now, as Congress takes up the energy bill again, DeLay and his deputy, Joe Barton, are pushing their colleagues once more to shield big oil companies from legal accountability, but they face a much more difficult task this time. Dozens of communities now know that their groundwater is polluted with MTBE, and many have taken the oil companies to court to force the companies to pay to clean up the mess their pollution has made of people’s drinking water.

A new analysis by the EWG Action Fund finds that detections of MTBE are rising sharply across the country, with contamination now found in 1,861 water systems in 29 states, serving more than 45 million Americans, up from 1,500 systems two years ago. More significantly for the fate of the waiver, MTBE has been found in more than 650 water systems in the districts of 97 House members who voted for the energy bill and the waiver. Twenty seven (27) of these members represent communities that are suing MTBE makers for tainting their water supplies — lawsuits that will be thrown out if the liability waiver becomes law. The other 85 do not yet represent communities in litigation, but voted to protect oil companies from future lawsuits by communities they represent.

MTBE: What the Oil Companies Knew and When They Knew It

List of 26 House Members Who Voted in 2003 To Protect Oil Companies From MTBE Lawsuits...

MTBE Contamination By State

Oil Companies Seeking Immunity

Communities With Pending Lawsuits

DeLay Champions Polluters, Not Voters

About the Environmental Working Group (EWG)

View additional 2005 Reports from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) (Additional reports available by year dating back to 1995 on a variety of topics)

What others are saying about MTBE:

American Cancer Society’s website

How Do I Know If I’ve Been Exposed to MTBE?

There are several Internet resources available that provide information regarding MTBE contamination in specific areas. They include:

Map of MTBE Groundwater Clean-up Levels for Leaking Underground Storage Tank Sites: This map shows current groundwater regulations (established or site-specific), forthcoming regulations, states waiting for MCL/Health Advisory, and states with no regulations.

State Drinking Water Offices. If you are concerned about the impact of MTBE on your drinking water you may also want to contact your state drinking water office for more information.

Table of State MTBE Standards. This map lists the MTBE levels found in soil, groundwater, and drinking water by each state.

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Division of Toxicology Information Center.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Operated by the University of California for the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration - a multidisciplinary team in the Environmental Restoration Division studying MTBE contamination of groundwater ...conclusions point to a compound that may progressively accumulate until it contaminates groundwater resources on a regional scale.

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences - listing of information on a variety of environmental health topics, including answers to some common environmental questions. The NIEHS conducts basic research on environmental health and environment-related diseases. (search for MTBE)

American Petroleum Institute compilation of online technical information on fuel oxygenates (primarily MTBE) in soil, groundwater and surface water.

MTBE website - is an outreach effort, sponsored in part by SB 521, to inform the public about MTBE and current MTBE research at UC Davis.

Research on MTBE done at the Oregon Graduate Institute

98-290: MTBE in Gasoline: Clean Air and Drinking Water Issues - Congressional Research Service (CRS), part of the Library of Congress, prepares its reports for the U.S. Congress.

Methyl tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) and Other Gasoline Oxygenates U.S. Geological Survey’ website devoted to MTBE.

What the EPA says about MTBE:

Drinking Water Advisory - Consumer Acceptability Advice and Health Effects Analysis on Methyl Tertiary-Butyl Ether (MTBE) This Advisory provides guidance to communities exposed to drinking water contaminated with MtBE.

Drinking Water and MTBE: A Guide for Private Well Owners - brochure funded by a grant from the US EPA Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water, Agreement #CX 826881-01-0, and produced jointly by the National Farm*A*Syst/Home*A*Syst Office, and UW-Extension Center for Environment and Energy.

What else the EPA says about MTBE.

What is MTBE? and Why is it used?

Find out whom to contact in your area for more information on MTBE in drinking water.

Efforts to help assess and manage the potential risks and benefits of MTBE and other fuel oxygenates.

Find out whom to contact in your area for more information on MTBE in drinking water.

1999-2001 EPA Press Releases related to MTBE.

MTBE in the News:

Apr. 21, 2005:
"Oil Companies Lose Effort to End Suits Over Contaminated Water" by Alexei Barrionuevo, New York Times
The ruling means that plaintiffs can proceed with some 80 lawsuits against oil companies asserting that the additive, methyl tertiary-butyl ether, or MTBE, fouled groundwater... The suits assert that the oil companies contaminated wells and underground aquifers across the country by adding MTBE to gasoline as a way to reduce air pollution. They say the oil companies knew that MTBE would cause widespread contamination because the chemical does not readily cling to soil and moves faster and farther in the ground than other gasoline components.

July 15, 2005:
"US House Keeps MTBE Protection in Energy Bill - The US House of Representatives on Thursday narrowly voted to keep intact language in a broad energy bill that protects Exxon Mobil Corp. and other makers of a water-fouling gasoline additive from lawsuits. Reuters News Service

July 21, 2005:
"Senators demand more information on MTBE"
Twenty-one senators asked the Environmental Protection Agency for more information Thursday about an internal paper that reportedly concludes that the gasoline additive MTBE may cause cancer... Associated Press.

July 22, 2005:
"House GOP proposes $11.4B for MTBE cleanup"
House Republicans on Friday proposed an $11.4 billion fund, with the oil industry providing about one-third of it, to pay for cleaning water systems contaminated by the gasoline additive MTBE. Associated Press.

July 24, 2005:
"Lawmakers remove roadblock to energy bill"
Senate negotiators rejected a House proposal for an $11.4 billion MTBE cleanup fund that House Republicans had hoped would serve as a compromise and still provide the liability shield to the oil industry. Associated Press.

U.S. House of Representatives:

"Bass Presents MTBE Cleanup Plan" - from the The Committee on Energy and Commerce, Joe Barton, Chairman, U.S. House of Representatives
...would establish a trust fund providing up to $11.43 billion over the next 12 years for cleanup efforts and other damages. Mandatory payments from the federal government and the gasoline industry, including gasoline refiners, producers, manufacturers, blenders, and importers, would finance the fund...

"Search for "MTBE"" - on the Committee on Energy and Commerce, Joe Barton, Chairman, U.S. House of Representatives’ website locates over 8 pages of articles.