AP: Bush Administration Shelved MTBE Ban

[KG]

By PETE YOST
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration quietly shelved a proposal to ban a gasoline additive that contaminates drinking water in many communities, helping an industry that has donated more than $1 million to Republicans.

The Environmental Protection Agency's decision had its origin in the early days of President Bush's tenure when his administration decided not to move ahead with a Clinton-era regulatory effort to ban the clean-air additive MTBE.

The proposed regulation said the environmental harm of the additive leaching into ground water overshadowed its beneficial effects to the air.

The Bush administration decided to leave the issue to Congress, where it has bogged down over a proposal to shield the industry from some lawsuits. That initiative is being led by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas.

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[La_Serpiente]

1. There goes New Hampshire

the governor there is suing the MTBE polluters for poisoning the water supply there.

[treepig]

2. for once, the bush administration may have got this one correct

it boggles the mind how mtbe alone can leach out of underground storage facilities and contaminate water supplies (i.e., the bigger problem is that the gasoline storage tanks leak at all - the other components may be less water soluble than mtbe or perhaps less detectable, but mtbe is not the problem here - leaking storage tanks are!)

further, the alternative to mtbe is ethanol, and upon close analysis, the mtbe ban is mostly politically motivated to benefit ethanol-producing states.