WASHINGTON - Following the Association of California Water Agencies' (ACWA) appeal to the US Government July 12 to help stop the spread of Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE), the Oxygenated Fuels Association issued a statement that ACWA's press release was a "disservice to the Californians" and "far off the mark".
ACWA's letter to President Clinton was intended to convince the administration to waive part of the Clean Air Act oxygenate mandate. The letter followed a request from California Gov. Gray Davis over a year ago. Without the mandate in place, ACWA Executive Director Steve Hall said, the additive MTBE cannot be completely removed as a threat to drinking water.
"Nothing could be further from the truth," said Thomas Adams, Executive Director of the Oxygenated Fuels Association in his reply. "Detections of MTBE and other constituents of gasoline being found in groundwater actually are declining. California should serve as a model for other states for its great job to date of bringing leaking, substandard gasoline storage tanks -- the primary avenue for gasoline to contaminate groundwater -- into compliance with the new more stringent rules and regulations governing their use," added Adams.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on March 20 announced a national 'phaseout' of MTBE, and seeks to replace the additive with a renewable fuel such as ethanol. But ACWA said these measures amounted to compromise action that will take years to implement.
The California Department of Health Services announced June 5th that MTBE had been detected in 32 public water systems in 20 counties located throughout the state. The fuel additive has been found in 55 drinking water sources, including 34 groundwater and 21 surface water supplies.
"Many of our member agencies, from Lake Tahoe to Santa Monica, are experiencing drastic decreases in the water supply they can deliver to their customers because they are forced to retire wells due to MTBE contamination," Hall said. "We do not need more studies or proclamations on the harmfulness of MTBE. We already know it jeopardizes our drinking water. What we need is action."
The Oxygenated Fuels Association has said ACWA is exaggerating the threat represented by the fuel additive. "MTBE has been detected in less than 1% of California water systems that have been tested, a far cry from what ACWA has described as a crisis situation," the association said in the response. "Furthermore, detections of MTBE above the state's Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) occurred in only 0.2% of those systems tested."
MTBE has been hailed as the workhorse of California's cleaner burning gasoline program and its use has contributed to a demonstrated reduction in air pollution in the state's smoggiest cities.
The Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) represents 443 public water agencies responsible for over 90% of the water delivered in California.
Note: The full text of ACWA's July 10 letter is on ACWA's Web site at http://www.acwanet.com/legislation/regulatory/mtbe2.html.
The Oxygenated Fuels Association is an international trade association incorporated in 1983 to advance knowledge about the use of oxygenated fuel additives which improve the combustion performance of motor vehicle fuels, thereby significantly reducing automobile emissions and air pollution.
For more information about the Oxygenated Fuels Association, visit http://www.ofa.net/.
