Oil industry hopes to avoid paying for MTBE problem [View All]

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Oil industry hopes to avoid paying for MTBE problem

Cleanup costs for toxic gas additive could be billions

By Michael Gardner
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE

June 15, 2005

SACRAMENTO – Staring at potential payouts in the billions of dollars, the U.S. oil industry is maneuvering to escape responsibility for cleaning up after MTBE, the now-banned toxic gasoline additive that has seeped into drinking water across the country.

If the campaign is successful, critics say taxpayers will be forced to pick up the unpaid bill.

Oil producers have attached so much importance to immunity from liability that the issue has taken a place right alongside opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and tax breaks as Congress crafts a broad new energy policy.

The House has already approved legislation sponsored by a powerful Texas Republican, Rep. Joe Barton, that would deliver what the industry wants, brushing aside protests from California water officials, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic Attorney General Bill Lockyer. However, the U.S. Senate is widely expected to withstand industry pressure as it takes up its own energy bill this week, shifting the showdown to a conference committee later this summer.

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http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050615/news_1n15mtbe.html