METHYL TORT-BUTYL ETHER (MTBE).   Term Paper ID:29569 Click to get this paper

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Paper Abstract: Discusses public and government response. Controversy over addition of MTBE to gasoline to reduce carbon monoxide emissions. MTBE as a human carcinogen; contamination of water supplies. Health risks. Goal of 1990 Amendments to the Clean Air Act (CAA) to reduce polluting emissions. Clean Air Act issues. Paper Introduction: From the mass of regulations generated by the 1990 Amendments to the Clean Air Act (CAA) the increased use of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) as an oxygen-enhancing additive in gasoline (intended to reduce carbon monoxide emissions) has been the result that produced the most widespread public response and the greatest amount of regulatory and legislative reshuffling. From local government in Fairbanks, Alaska to the State Senate of California to the Environmental Protection Agency citizens, legislators, regulators, and various commercial interests have been involved in a struggle to determine how best to protect the public interest as regards the use of MTBE, a likely human carcinogen that produces significant reductions in carbon monoxide emissions but is sometimes claimed to be an airborne health hazard and has been definitively shown to contaminate Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. result that produced the most and various commercial interests have beeninvolved in a struggle has been definitively shown tocontaminate water supplies The CAA when full implementation was achieved in The pollution controlling emissions from mobile sources reducing oreliminating therequirement that state and local because the Bush administration was able allowed most interested parties to be involved in theprocess and by the administration because it gave greater leeway tobusinesses in that the new regulations would fill pages stationary sources of pollution ofany size in or near urban ordinary year prior to the EPA's Conservativeestimates in held that the that had not attained the NationalAmbient Air Quality plans or for failure to implement approved SIPs Therange new construction projects may beapproved vii first years of the EPA often director the agency has just never missed viii This however but the EPA was producing rules solate that many production of faulty rulesthat simply wind outdoor air concentrations of key pollutants hadbeen threat to health in many regions Health is regulations was litigated by leadproducers the court ruled that the technical feasibility in making such decisions xi Among and Title II Mobile Sources which among other winter of required all gasoline necessary in the wintermonths when CO a higher oxygencontent percent by weight but also differs in the emission of ozone-forming volatileorganic compounds and theincreased costs yet feared regulations on the development industry yet feared that mandated fuel industry support based on the belief subsequently disappointed that RFG and oxygenated fuels a U S Court of from corn and other grains but merely an accommodation for Archer-Daniels-Midland the largest nearly million per year in disallow the ethanol mandate MTBE becamethe principal as was later shown its role as which represents MTBEproducers and the the Amendments At the state level has generated the most extensive political efforts torenegotiate cause itsdownfall Ethanol has been added to xviii Still in the event that because it is easily degraded xix The drawbacks of ethanol drawbacks are economic It cannot oxygenated fuels is on the East itself toagricultural interests proposed that the EPA require fate of ethanol will probably not be the gasoline refining process andmethanol a byproduct intended to increase gasoline octane gasoline components dilution effect on undesirable components and its evaporative MTBE under thenew EPA rules came after filling their tanks xxv Despite the fact thatoxygenated smellMTBE in gasoline made with North Slope Alaskan crude oil EPA andothers failed to identify the kinds effect With the implementation of in numerous other states staged protests gathered signatures and would be lowered from to percent Since proceededto mandate changes of their own xxviii Utah its health effects could be studied further xxix Butthe Wisconsin the immediate and short-term reactions toMTBE died down after the in studies conducted by the U underground gasoline storage tanks often licensed to be easy to smell and taste in drinking a well field supplying half of SantaMonica's water xxxiv The with leakage from storage tanks by far themost important thus case and since even with to ground waterresources xxxv The growing the compound from fuels The EPA has subsequently admitted theincreased usage became likely because of the Amendments xxxvi But was based onthe claim that the MTBE-enhanced RFG and Oxygenated Los Angeles with the worst air quality Academy ofSciences and an EPA advisory panel which were directly related to concentrations xxxvii The problem with MTBE therefore came down the possibility of opting in or out In the yearsfollowing definitive demonstrations onthe use of MTBE as an oxygenating to theMTBE air-versus-water dilemma and especially to broad public protest and that the decision to remain with the request but required thestate to develop measures to of MTBE in drinkingwater In New supply xxxix In July the governor the program while the state passed a law requiring the commissioner of environmental protection Use Management whose report end the RFG oxygenate mandatebecause of hands The most significant developments have taken place in California allMTBE use In addition to usedMTBE-enhanced gasoline xlii On the basis of the But at the sametime the Governor also requested an EPA State Assembly a bill SB by ByronSher that would codify of using MTBE as an oxygenate in and the EPA's reactions to representatives state and local officials Congress should clarify stateauthority to regulate gasoline components parties in order to avoid a patchwork of MTBEregulations and should be phased out xlviii In a as of February the state ofCalifornia had means that at the national level the main issue beforethe thatthe high level of popular pressure and state demands willnot accept oxygenate rules if it means John E Larry B Parker and www cnie org Bohm Martha The National Concerns over Program's Fate National Petroleum News April March Available from http www cnie org Mayer Susan Air Act Amendments of Where Are We Now Congressional Research Kumins and Migdon Segal Implementation of the Reformulated Gasoline the th Congress Congressional Research Service Issue Brief IB and Drinking Water Issues Congressional Research Service Hugh Catching up on the Clean Air Act Suzanne Zolfo What Price MTBE E July-August Rallying F Pankow Nic E Korte and Water Does California Need MTBE California State Senate Online Journal February Endnotes i Susan Mayer Implementing the Clean www cnie org ii Hugh McIntosh Catching up on the Air Quality State Plans and Sanctions the Clean Air Act Amendments of The DecisionmakingProcess Congressional Research Service Report ENR ServiceReport ENR Washington DC Committee for Washington DC Committee for the NationalInstitute for Air vs Clean Water Does California NeedMTBE California available from http www nga Ibid xxvii Mark Emond Widespread Health Complaints about RFG Pankow Nic E Korte and xxxiii Bohm xxxiv Ibid xxxv Charles Andrews MTBE A Long-term for the National Institute for the Environment November McCarthy Clean Air Act Issues in the th Congress Congressional McCarthy xlix Rallying Federal Action on MTBE methyl tert-butyl ether MTBE asan oxygen-enhancing additive in Alaska to the StateSenate of California carcinogen that producessignificant reductions in carbon monoxide emissions to reducepolluting emissions from all sources by directed the EPA to establishregulations to chemicals Overall the Amendments made major changes in the in two decades and the innovativeapproach to regulation in which flexible techniques were used toformulate it had notbeen heard ii The addition of emissions means to get even steeper emissionsreductions iii The specificity necessitated by many of the all sources was to beadministered after the signing of the amendments the agency proposed research efforts prepare reports to Congress to be reviewed and approvedby the EPA and highway funding as well as a requirement for to amendments meant that all parties were working under routinely sued the EPA and the courtsestablished deadlines The rulesdelays were also quite serious because the States were deadlinesand serious budgetary constraints often result in neglect of properscientific been leveled at the EPA in thecontroversy over the for example despite having decreased by percent since still far that costs and technical feasibility also needed to be ofambient air quality standards and that CO emissions were Title I to reduce CO emissions in fuel to burn cleaner andproduces far less nine worstozone nonattainment areas as of January Initially another it must be formulated to CAA Amendments because theoil industry while able to sinceRFG reduced its share in reducing emissions by placing One of the deciding factors of choice in both programs were ethanol and MTBE Although not have the authority tomandate that ethanol be the preferred already gets from ethanol sales xvi The controversy at least as clean and costs were not excessive UnfortunatelyMTBE became the center least of which isthe rivalry and hasgenerated so much political activity that it MTBE But California with its special provisionsand problems MTBE has won outover ethanol but in until the s Ethanol at its most recent peak a positive impact on air quality water it increases the solubility of othergasoline contaminants' available i e the Midwest Since the volatility requirements of RFG its usewould probably increase the ethanol use since it is the primary fuel additiveconsidered to is produced in very large the United States each year xxiii MTBEhas been used because of its low cost agent in Colorado since But the first complain of nausea headaches dizziness and incidents outside Alaska xxvi A subsequent study funded of MTBE ingasoline produced in other states had already bannedthe use of MTBE in the state only ever The Oxy Busters group in Jersey's governor canceled theoxygenate season two months before schedule in EPA announcedthat it would not oppose which led Gov Tommy Thompson to ask the MTBE while permitting use of was the discovery of the extent be the second most frequently detectedcompound xxxii The great The public's perception of MTBE health risks is high of water supplies California in particular experienced a reservoirs were contaminated MTBE from but gasoline's componentshave traditionally degraded readily in the percent of all gasoline the figure estimated for because of increasing usage of MTBE under the CAArules for RFG being used as anoctane enhancer and retesting should known the EPA continued toresist calls for agencies credited theoxygenate-enhanced fuels with some a percentage reduction in cancer risk because of loweredlevels both the EPA and theWhite oxygenated fuels was associated with a Due to theflexibility that was built achieved within certain limits by various combinations of measures so in meeting NAAQS while the EPA and theCongress debated end to the requirement for any oxygenating additive in the RFG program by the industry xxxviii But when Maine's Governor opted use of RFG Maine also temporarily was denied instead urging the state to reduce implementing EPA's national low emission vehicle Connecticut all opted out of the ofthe Northeastern states also requested a study quality But in realisticpolitical terms the EPA may have study of water supplies throughoutthe state and the drinking water sources the state also began to called for phasing out of MTBE use inthe state's the Act including the other goals of the tanks was set in motion Clearly developments in the ethanol manufacturerswho hope to benefit from the downfall regulation ofoxygenate levels The EPA's Blue Ribbon Panel oxygenate mandate should be repealed the generally repealing the mandate requirescongressional action and the Panel recommended to the FY Agriculture appropriations bill expressing the toward approval It had clearly begun to seem percent federal oxygenaterequirement and a campaign allow refiners to discontinue or lessentheir use of whether alternative oxygenates will be used or the RFG oxygenateregulation Charles MTBE A Long-term Threat to Ground for the National Institute for the Environment June Pubs IssueBriefs MTBE aspEmond Mark Service Information Brief IB Washington DC Committee Institute for the Environment December Accessed March March Available from http www August Accessed March Available from http www http www cnie org McCarthy James E and Mary Environment October Accessed March Available White House quid pro quo Fortune November Nulty Peter Available from http www acwanet com legislation February available from http www nga org Pubs IssueBriefs MTBE MTBE Ethanol Advocates' Squabble May Complicate DC Committee for the National Ibid iv Ibid v Ibid vi Susan Mayer Implementing the Environment December accessed March available from http www cnie org D C Cir quoted in John E Blodgett http www cnie org xii Susan Mayer Lawrence Kumins and xiv Ibid xv David Gushee Alternative Transportation Fuels and CleanGasoline quo Fortune November xvii Peter mtbe htm xix Martha Bohm The National Debate May ComplicateRFG Implementation Oil and Gas Ibid xxxi Suzanne Zolfo Patton What Price MTBE E July-August MTBE accessed February available fromhttp www Issues in the thCongress Congressional Research Ibid xli Ibid xlii Wiley xliii McCarthy the Environment November accessed March available http www acwanet com legislation regulatory mtbe html l McCarthy From the mass of regulations generated by the widespreadpublic response and the greatest amount to determine how best to protect the public Amendments of were signed into law by President GeorgeBush in primary thrust ofthe legislation was completion of other air toxins reducing acid air-quality authorities participate indesigning local compliance plans topersuade the EPA and proponents the EPA to craft wording that would be adjusting their required responses while the EnvironmentalDefense of the U S codebooks although all other environmental codes areas for example were to be required to obtainpermits and Air and Radiation Office ordinarily EPA would be required to issue some new regulations write Standards NAAQS were required to submit of possible sanctions included a ban on approval In addition the years for full missed thescheduled implementation dates and various parties produced furthercontention as the EPA was criticized for ignoring states were forced to delay their own SIP submissions andsubsequent up being overturned in the courts Such greatly reduced Yet several of the EPA's the only criterion to be statue and its legislative historymake clear that economic considerations play the major titles in the programs required the use ofreformulated gasoline RFG to reduce sold in carbon monoxide nonattainment areas concentrations reach their peaks RFG program required thatreformulated gasoline designed from conventional gasolineand oxygenated fuels in that toxic air pollutants xiii The RFG program wasintensively debated prior of alternativefuels The automobile industry changes would forceexpensive technological changes in ethanol would receive a major Appeals stayed the rulein and can be produced from other typesof biomass was highly contributor to the Republican Party thatwould allow the federalsubsidies enabled ethanol producers to oxygenating agent of choice except in areas principally a major pollutant of watersupplies The Renewable Fuels Association which represents ethanolmanufacturers The MTBE controversy Alaska New Jersey Maine Minnesota and others have been administrative rules and regulations and pass new legislation Of the gasoline since the s althoughlead proved to be MTBE isruled unusable ethanol is the are relatively minor It increases emissionof the toxic pollutant be practicallytransported by pipeline and is only practically produced and West coasts and ethanol is also that at least thirtypercent of oxygenates in decided for some time as thedebate over of natural gas refining and over and prevent engineproblems In addition to its high octane qualities xxiv MTBE had also about in Alaska when the oxygenated fuels rule fuels with the same amounts of MTBE were simultaneouslyintroduced was eight timesgreater than their of ill effects claimed by people inAlaska yet on the RFG program however the generally caused enough troubleto initiate changes this was the accepted level ended its oxygenate seasonearly and in Wisconsin as many as legislature took the matter into its own initial outburst especially as studies continuedto fail to S Geological Survey's National Water Quality Assessment situatedfar too near water sources Subsequently MTBE was water xxxiii And in a number state legislature mandated a University ofCalifornia far As one ground water expert noted however gasoline spills the best efforts gasoline spills areinevitably the addition understanding that the water supply couldonly that it did not have the healthtesting despite the fact that states' resistance to the compound grew gasoline had been veryeffective in helping meet in thenation credited the programs however have left the effectiveness ofRFG in some doubt But the oxygenated fuels program Anine-year study to the conflict betweenconcern for of various aspects of thedifferent of the high levels of MTBEcontamination in water supplies additive in RFG a total ban overthe extensive use of the compound the program be ineffect for five produce reductions in air toxins equivalent Hampshire however the Governor's decision to seek an of Kansas after opting inon the RFG program discovered that worked atdeveloping another fuel blend that would meet to report whether the continued the higher cost of ethanol Cost is not of course The MTBE scare in regard to water generating a number of new laws and regulationsrequiring public study recommendationsand on subsequent public hearings Governor Gray Davis waiver from the oxygenate mandateon the understanding that California will the executive order as well as RFG and the total elimination of any oxygenate them have also led to a great dealof confusion environmentalists academics and others arrived at several conclusions and that MTBE use besubstantially reduced or eliminated altogether fuel formulations throughout the country xlvii A short time bill in the House mandating the elimination of not yet received an answer to its request that the Congress is whether Clean Air Act will result in agradual phase-out of MTBE use as high costs from ethanol use andwill instead James E McCarthy Air Quality Standards The Debate About the Gasoline Additive MTBE National Governors Association Online Gushee David Alternative Transportation Fuels and Clean Gasoline Quality State Plans and Sanctions Congressional Service Report ENR Washington DC Committee Program Congressional Research Service Report ENR Washington DC Washington DC Committee for the National Institute for Report Washington DC Committee for Environmental Health Perspectives August Accessed March Available from http Federal Action on MTBE ACWA's MTBE Bulletin February Association John S Zogorski Environmental Behavior February Accessed March Available from http www sen Air Act Amendments of Where Clean Air Act EnvironmentalHealth Perspectives August accessed March Congressional Research Service Report ENR Washington DC Committee x Ibid xi Lead Industries Association v Washington DC Committee for the National Institute for the Environment the National Institute forthe Environment August accessed March the Environment January accessed March available from http www State Senate Online February accessed March available from http www org Pubs IssueBriefs MTBE asp xx Ibid xxi Ibid MTBE RaiseConcerns over Program's Fate National Petroleum News John S Zogorski Environmental Behavior and Threat to Ground WaterQuality Ground Water September accessed March available from http www cnie org Research Service Issue Brief IB ACWA's MTBE Bulletin February Association of gasoline intended to reduce carbonmonoxide emissions has been the to the Environmental Protection Agency citizens legislators regulators but is sometimesclaimed to be an airborne health hazard and a total of billion pounds perannum achieve the various principal goals including reducingurban air waythat air pollution is controlled in the United States including passage ofthe Amendments came about the amendments negotiations round-table discussions advisorycommittees which allowance trading for example was approved regulatory burden however was immense It was estimated forexample areas ofregulation increased this burden All on a locale by locale basis In an or finalized implementation rules v and create panels vi In addition states that contained areas could face sanctions for failing to submit plans forproviding inadequate offsets of existing pollution before the constraint ofvery tight deadlines In the which according to the Air Policy Office required to meet thepre-set deadlines for implementation testing of potential problems and the use of MTBE Since ambient exceeded theNAAQS and constituted a continuing considered bythe EPA in setting CAA rules and the EPA administrator may notconsider economic and Urban Air Pollution which prescribed reduction goals for metropolitan areas designatedareas The oxygenated fuels program which began in the CO xii This is especially cities volunteered to adopt the RFG program RFG requires achieve thegreatest degree of reductions make reformulated fuels did not like some of the burdenon the oil in getting the RFG programapproved was agricultural the EPA initially mandated the use ofethanol in ethanol use xv The mandate regarding ethanol which is madeprimarily oxygenating agent and this ledto accusations that the proposal was alsoderived from the fact that half as much xvii With the court decision to of even greater controversy over perceived healtheffects and between the Oxygenated Fuels Association undoubtedly ranks at the topof the dilemmas posed by and its subsequently discovered high rate of ground watercontamination the long run the dangers of MTBE may however accounted for only to percent of the additive market and fuel performance and it posesminimal water quality risks plumes allowing the to spread further xx Ethanol's principal percentof the demand for RFG and costs of cleaner-burning fuelsconsiderably xxi The Clinton administration not unsusceptible be renewable i e derived from organic sources xxii Butthe amountsfrom isobutylene a waste product in as a gasoline additive since primarily in lowpercentages of production ability to readily mixwith other reaction against the increased use of irritations of eyes nose and throat especially bythe Oxygenated Fuels Association showed that subjects ability to xxvii Further studies by the three months after the EPA program wasput into New Jersey and similar associations and mandated that theoxygenate level in New Jersey New Jersey's decision and other states EPA to suspend use ofthe new fuel until ethanolas the oxygenate in RFG xxx Public protest based on to which MTBE had contaminatedwater supplies Beginning majority of MTBE entered the water supply fromleaking because even at very lowconcentrations it is number of serious incidentswith MTBE contamination including emissions is only one of thesources of the contamination subsurface This is no longerthe the CAAprograms is a prescription for disaster with respect and oxygenated fuels has led to intensive demands forelimination of have been a priority when changes in its two programs The resistance improvements in the levels of ozone-producing contaminants of benzene in RFG Conflicting reports by the National House Office of Science and Technology have found considerablereductions fourteen percentreduction in ambient CO into compliance requirements for SIPs the statesoften had long asattainment was reached within specified time limits either the elimination of the two programs a ban only RFG The states have since produced a variety of responses requirement that the decision be madeby January out fivemoths after the deadline the EPA approved enacted ahealth threshold regulating the permissible levels spills to keep gasoline out of thewater program NLEV and hoped to opt out of RFGprogram citing MTBE concerns and Connecticut's legislature by the Northeast States forCoordinated Air the decision taken out of its study's report recommended a gradual phase-out of consider new regulations on water craft that gasoline supply by December xliii RFGprogram xliv In the California the states particularly in California aredriving the national reconsideration of MTBE xlv All these statedecisions on Oxygenate Use inGasoline composed of industry oxygenaterequirement for RFG be eliminated that that unified action betaken by all involved sense of the Senate thatuse of MTBE thatMTBE's days were numbered Yet was underway to gain support for therequest xlix This oxygenates l The general feeling in the literature is be maintained since the general feeling is that the states Water Quality Ground Water September Blodgett Accessed March Available from http Widespread Health Complaints about RFG MTBE Raise for the National Institute for the Environment January Accessed Available from http www cnie org Implementing the Clean Air cnie org Mayer Susan Lawrence cnie org McCarthy James E Clean Air Act Issues in Tiemann MTBE in Gasoline Clean Air from http www cnie org McIntosh Ethanol Capers Fortune March Patton regulatory mtbe htmlSquillace Paul J James aspWiley Kip Clean Air vs Clean RFG Implementation Oil and Gas Institute for the Environment January accessed March Available fromhttp Clean Air Act Amendments of vii Susan Mayer viii Quoted in McIntosh ix Mayer Implementing Larry B Parker and James E McCarthy Air Quality Standards Migdon Segal Implementationof the Reformulated Gasoline Program Congressional Research Background and Regulatory Issues Congressional Research ServiceInformation Brief IB Nulty Ethanol Capers Fortune March xviii Kip Wiley Clean About the Gasoline AdditiveMTBE National Governors Association Online accessed February Journal February xxiii Wiley xxiv Ibid xxv Williams xxvi xxxii Paul J Squillace James F nga org Pubs IssueBriefs MTBE asp Service Issue Brief IB Washington DC Committee xliv Quoted in Bohm xlv Ibid xlvi James E from http www cnie org xlvii Bohm xlviii Amendments to theClean Air Act CAA the increased use of of regulatory and legislativereshuffling From local government in Fairbanks interestas regards the use of MTBE a likely human November The overall goal of the amendments was efforts begun under the CAA of andits amendments The amendments rain and phasing out ozone-depleting i The CAA had not been re-authorized of the changes to employ an both procedurally andoperationally acceptable while ensuring that no interest felt Fund saw it as a together fill only pages iv The the reduction of urban pollutants from issued from five toeight rules but during the two years more than guidance documents conduct some StateImplementation Plans SIPs all of which had of new highwayprojects and a loss of implementation of most portions ofthe including PublicCitizen and the Sierra Club statutorily-imposeddeadlines in favor of meeting court-ordered deadlines ix implementation of required programs x But rushed charges ofrushing and faulty science have frequently criteria pollutantsremained serious problems Carbon monoxide CO emissions used in setting the NAAQS When theclaim no part in the promulgation Amendments that addressed thecontinued reduction of emissions generally and required thewinter-time use of oxygenated fuels tocontain percent oxygen which allows the to burn cleaner be sold in the unlike oxygenated fuels that essentially aimat reducing CO emissions alone to the passage of the on the other hand was conflicted automobiles to make themcompatible xiv boost fromthe program The two principal oxygenating additives ruled in April that the EPA did controversial on political grounds President Bushhad proposed company to ensure a significant increase in the billionthe company keep prices competitive with MTBEwhich is inthe Midwest where transportation costs debate over MTBE has many aspects not the has taken in so many parties among the most active inconfronting the EPA over two principal additives the practicality of more cost effective and was more widely used most likely replacement It has nearly asgreat acetaldehyde but still produces overall reductionsin air contamination and in in areas where theraw materials are readily more expensive to produce because it requiresadditional processing to meet gasoline be renewable which meant in effect amandate for higher MTBE continues MTBE does not occur naturally but billion gallonsof the substance is consumed in rating the additive has been usedextensively been used as an oxygenating wasimplemented in the winter of Consumers soon began to in metropolitan areas in the remaining states there were nonoteworthy ability to smell the same concentration the basis of the protests the governor publicprotests were stronger and more widespread than at the state level New in some other areas the complaints a day were beingreceived hands and the Senatevoted to ban year-round use of demonstrate the claimed effects xxxi Far more serious however program in eighturban areas MTBE was found to found in unsafeconcentrations in water supplies throughout the country of states consumers sued MTBE producers for allegedcontamination testing program that determined that cites including of all kinds are extremely common of MTBE in such large percentages to at least be further endangered by the requirements that exist now when MTBE started rapidly oncethe water contamination problem became widely NAAQS The EPA and state and local air quality with an percent reduction in ground-levelozone and in the reduction of CO levels of sites prepared for two industry groups concludedthat use of air quality and protection of water supplies programs mandated by the Amendments NAAQS could be throughout the nation the states began toseriously reconsider their options on MTBE use or an They were limited on the question ofopting out of years in order to prevent stranded investments by thepetroleum tothose that were to be achieved with the EPAwaiver to discontinue the RFG program at least the state could achieve transportationconformity by the clean airrequirements xl New Jersey New York and use of MTBE is appropriate xli The governors technicallya consideration in EPA decisions regarding air supply contamination produced legislationmandating the University of California water suppliers to monitor their issued anexecutive order in March that still fully meet the air qualityemissions standards of requiring increasedregulation of underground storage requirement is being mostvigorously fought by agricultural interests and over authority in the matter of MTBE use and The panel held that the xlvi But while the EPAcan act to reduce MTBE use later the Senate approved an amendment the oxygenate requirement for RFG HR Bilbray was headed U S EPA grant California a waiver of the provisions concerning reformulatedgasoline should be modified to an oxygenate But there is littlecertainty opt to develop other strategies to achieve NAAQS BibliographyAndrews Decisionmaking Process Congressional Research Service Report ENR Washington DC Committee Accessed February available from http www nga org Background and Regulatory Issues Congressional Research Research Service Report ENR Washington DC Committee for the National for the National Institute for the Environment January Accessed Committee for the National Institute for the Environment the Environment November Accessed March Available from the National Institute for the ehpnet niehs nih gov docs focus htmlMendes Joshua A of California Water Agencies Accessed March and Fate of Methyl tert-Butyl Ether MTBE accessed ca gov ftp sen sor environ mtbe htmWilliams Bob Are We Now Congressional Research Service Report ENR Washington Availablefrom http ehpnet niehs nih gov docs focus html iii for the National Institute for the Environmental Protection Agency F d June accessed March available from available fromhttp www cnie org xiii Ibid cnie org xvi Joshua Mendes A White House quid pro sen ca gov ftp sen sor environ xxii Bob Williams MTBE Ethanol Advocates' Squabble April xxviii Emond xxix Ibid xxx Fate of Methyl tert-Butyl Ether xxxvi Patton xxxvii James E McCarthy Clean Air Act xxxviii Bohm xxxix Ibid xl Washington DC Committee for the National Institute for California Water Agencies accessed March Available from result that produced the most and various commercial interests have beeninvolved in a struggle has been definitively shown tocontaminate water supplies The CAA when full implementation was achieved in The pollution controlling emissions from mobile sources reducing oreliminating therequirement that state and local because the Bush administration was able allowed most interested parties to be involved in theprocess and by the administration because it gave greater leeway tobusinesses in that the new regulations would fill pages stationary sources of pollution ofany size in or near urban ordinary year prior to the EPA's Conservativeestimates in held that the that had not attained the NationalAmbient Air Quality plans or for failure to implement approved SIPs Therange new construction projects may beapproved vii first years of the EPA often director the agency has just never missed viii This however but the EPA was producing rules solate that many production of faulty rulesthat simply wind outdoor air concentrations of key pollutants hadbeen threat to health in many regions Health is regulations was litigated by leadproducers the court ruled that the technical feasibility in making such decisions xi Among and Title II Mobile Sources which among other winter of required all gasoline necessary in the wintermonths when CO a higher oxygencontent percent by weight but also differs in the emission of ozone-forming volatileorganic compounds and theincreased costs yet feared regulations on the development industry yet feared that mandated fuel industry support based on the belief subsequently disappointed that RFG and oxygenated fuels a U S Court of from corn and other grains but merely an accommodation for Archer-Daniels-Midland the largest nearly million per year in disallow the ethanol mandate MTBE becamethe principal as was later shown its role as which represents MTBEproducers and the the Amendments At the state level has generated the most extensive political efforts torenegotiate cause itsdownfall Ethanol has been added to xviii Still in the event that because it is easily degraded xix The drawbacks of ethanol drawbacks are economic It cannot oxygenated fuels is on the East itself toagricultural interests proposed that the EPA require fate of ethanol will probably not be the gasoline refining process andmethanol a byproduct intended to increase gasoline octane gasoline components dilution effect on undesirable components and its evaporative MTBE under thenew EPA rules came after filling their tanks xxv Despite the fact thatoxygenated smellMTBE in gasoline made with North Slope Alaskan crude oil EPA andothers failed to identify the kinds effect With the implementation of in numerous other states staged protests gathered signatures and would be lowered from to percent Since proceededto mandate changes of their own xxviii Utah its health effects could be studied further xxix Butthe Wisconsin the immediate and short-term reactions toMTBE died down after the in studies conducted by the U underground gasoline storage tanks often licensed to be easy to smell and taste in drinking a well field supplying half of SantaMonica's water xxxiv The with leakage from storage tanks by far themost important thus case and since even with to ground waterresources xxxv The growing the compound from fuels The EPA has subsequently admitted theincreased usage became likely because of the Amendments xxxvi But was based onthe claim that the MTBE-enhanced RFG and Oxygenated Los Angeles with the worst air quality Academy ofSciences and an EPA advisory panel which were directly related to concentrations xxxvii The problem with MTBE therefore came down the possibility of opting in or out In the yearsfollowing definitive demonstrations onthe use of MTBE as an oxygenating to theMTBE air-versus-water dilemma and especially to broad public protest and that the decision to remain with the request but required thestate to develop measures to of MTBE in drinkingwater In New supply xxxix In July the governor the program while the state passed a law requiring the commissioner of environmental protection Use Management whose report end the RFG oxygenate mandatebecause of hands The most significant developments have taken place in California allMTBE use In addition to usedMTBE-enhanced gasoline xlii On the basis of the But at the sametime the Governor also requested an EPA State Assembly a bill SB by ByronSher that would codify of using MTBE as an oxygenate in and the EPA's reactions to representatives state and local officials Congress should clarify stateauthority to regulate gasoline components parties in order to avoid a patchwork of MTBEregulations and should be phased out xlviii In a as of February the state ofCalifornia had means that at the national level the main issue beforethe thatthe high level of popular pressure and state demands willnot accept oxygenate rules if it means John E Larry B Parker and www cnie org Bohm Martha The National Concerns over Program's Fate National Petroleum News April March Available from http www cnie org Mayer Susan Air Act Amendments of Where Are We Now Congressional Research Kumins and Migdon Segal Implementation of the Reformulated Gasoline the th Congress Congressional Research Service Issue Brief IB and Drinking Water Issues Congressional Research Service Hugh Catching up on the Clean Air Act Suzanne Zolfo What Price MTBE E July-August Rallying F Pankow Nic E Korte and Water Does California Need MTBE California State Senate Online Journal February Endnotes i Susan Mayer Implementing the Clean www cnie org ii Hugh McIntosh Catching up on the Air Quality State Plans and Sanctions the Clean Air Act Amendments of The DecisionmakingProcess Congressional Research Service Report ENR ServiceReport ENR Washington DC Committee for Washington DC Committee for the NationalInstitute for Air vs Clean Water Does California NeedMTBE California available from http www nga Ibid xxvii Mark Emond Widespread Health Complaints about RFG Pankow Nic E Korte and xxxiii Bohm xxxiv Ibid xxxv Charles Andrews MTBE A Long-term for the National Institute for the Environment November McCarthy Clean Air Act Issues in the th Congress Congressional McCarthy xlix Rallying Federal Action on MTBE methyl tert-butyl ether MTBE asan oxygen-enhancing additive in Alaska to the StateSenate of California carcinogen that producessignificant reductions in carbon monoxide emissions to reducepolluting emissions from all sources by directed the EPA to establishregulations to chemicals Overall the Amendments made major changes in the in two decades and the innovativeapproach to regulation in which flexible techniques were used toformulate it had notbeen heard ii The addition of emissions means to get even steeper emissionsreductions iii The specificity necessitated by many of the all sources was to beadministered after the signing of the amendments the agency proposed research efforts prepare reports to Congress to be reviewed and approvedby the EPA and highway funding as well as a requirement for to amendments meant that all parties were working under routinely sued the EPA and the courtsestablished deadlines The rulesdelays were also quite serious because the States were deadlinesand serious budgetary constraints often result in neglect of properscientific been leveled at the EPA in thecontroversy over the for example despite having decreased by percent since still far that costs and technical feasibility also needed to be ofambient air quality standards and that CO emissions were Title I to reduce CO emissions in fuel to burn cleaner andproduces far less nine worstozone nonattainment areas as of January Initially another it must be formulated to CAA Amendments because theoil industry while able to sinceRFG reduced its share in reducing emissions by placing One of the deciding factors of choice in both programs were ethanol and MTBE Although not have the authority tomandate that ethanol be the preferred already gets from ethanol sales xvi The controversy at least as clean and costs were not excessive UnfortunatelyMTBE became the center least of which isthe rivalry and hasgenerated so much political activity that it MTBE But California with its special provisionsand problems MTBE has won outover ethanol but in until the s Ethanol at its most recent peak a positive impact on air quality water it increases the solubility of othergasoline contaminants' available i e the Midwest Since the volatility requirements of RFG its usewould probably increase the ethanol use since it is the primary fuel additiveconsidered to is produced in very large the United States each year xxiii MTBEhas been used because of its low cost agent in Colorado since But the first complain of nausea headaches dizziness and incidents outside Alaska xxvi A subsequent study funded of MTBE ingasoline produced in other states had already bannedthe use of MTBE in the state only ever The Oxy Busters group in Jersey's governor canceled theoxygenate season two months before schedule in EPA announcedthat it would not oppose which led Gov Tommy Thompson to ask the MTBE while permitting use of was the discovery of the extent be the second most frequently detectedcompound xxxii The great The public's perception of MTBE health risks is high of water supplies California in particular experienced a reservoirs were contaminated MTBE from but gasoline's componentshave traditionally degraded readily in the percent of all gasoline the figure estimated for because of increasing usage of MTBE under the CAArules for RFG being used as anoctane enhancer and retesting should known the EPA continued toresist calls for agencies credited theoxygenate-enhanced fuels with some a percentage reduction in cancer risk because of loweredlevels both the EPA and theWhite oxygenated fuels was associated with a Due to theflexibility that was built achieved within certain limits by various combinations of measures so in meeting NAAQS while the EPA and theCongress debated end to the requirement for any oxygenating additive in the RFG program by the industry xxxviii But when Maine's Governor opted use of RFG Maine also temporarily was denied instead urging the state to reduce implementing EPA's national low emission vehicle Connecticut all opted out of the ofthe Northeastern states also requested a study quality But in realisticpolitical terms the EPA may have study of water supplies throughoutthe state and the drinking water sources the state also began to called for phasing out of MTBE use inthe state's the Act including the other goals of the tanks was set in motion Clearly developments in the ethanol manufacturerswho hope to benefit from the downfall regulation ofoxygenate levels The EPA's Blue Ribbon Panel oxygenate mandate should be repealed the generally repealing the mandate requirescongressional action and the Panel recommended to the FY Agriculture appropriations bill expressing the toward approval It had clearly begun to seem percent federal oxygenaterequirement and a campaign allow refiners to discontinue or lessentheir use of whether alternative oxygenates will be used or the RFG oxygenateregulation Charles MTBE A Long-term Threat to Ground for the National Institute for the Environment June Pubs IssueBriefs MTBE aspEmond Mark Service Information Brief IB Washington DC Committee Institute for the Environment December Accessed March March Available from http www August Accessed March Available from http www http www cnie org McCarthy James E and Mary Environment October Accessed March Available White House quid pro quo Fortune November Nulty Peter Available from http www acwanet com legislation February available from http www nga org Pubs IssueBriefs MTBE MTBE Ethanol Advocates' Squabble May Complicate DC Committee for the National Ibid iv Ibid v Ibid vi Susan Mayer Implementing the Environment December accessed March available from http www cnie org D C Cir quoted in John E Blodgett http www cnie org xii Susan Mayer Lawrence Kumins and xiv Ibid xv David Gushee Alternative Transportation Fuels and CleanGasoline quo Fortune November xvii Peter mtbe htm xix Martha Bohm The National Debate May ComplicateRFG Implementation Oil and Gas Ibid xxxi Suzanne Zolfo Patton What Price MTBE E July-August MTBE accessed February available fromhttp www Issues in the thCongress Congressional Research Ibid xli Ibid xlii Wiley xliii McCarthy the Environment November accessed March available http www acwanet com legislation regulatory mtbe html l McCarthy If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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