14 AG'S ASK GREGG TO STOP MTBE RELIEF BILL

By David Darman on Thursday, June 19, 2003.

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The Attorneys General of New Hampshire and thirteen other states have sent a letter to Senator Judd Gregg.

The letter asks Gregg to help derail a part of the Energy Bill.

The bill would shield MtBE manufacturers from prosecution when the chemical contaminates drinking water supplies.

NHPRs David Darman has more.

The letter sent by the fourteen Attorney’s general urges Senator Gregg to stop the MtBE immunity provision.

Gregg chairs the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

New Hampshire Attorney General Peter Heed says the provision goes overboard in protecting MtBE manufacturers.
….we just don’t feel it should be protected in such a fashion. We feel that it basically culls out and carves out this particular product which we think is dangerous.

MtBE has been added to gasoline for years, to help automobiles burn fuel more cleanly.

But MtBE leaches quickly in water.
Its estimated that 13% of New Hampshire’ public water supply has been contaminated.

Fred McGarry of the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services says research shows MtBE can cause cancer in rats and mice.

But he says that’s as far as science has gone.
12 45 there’s no current information research studies on potential impact on humans. And so consequently you can’t make a statement that mtbe is a human carcinogen. And I guess the closest you can come to that is stating that because it did cause cancer in rats and mice that it is a possible human carcinogen. 12 120

A California jury found the scientific evidence about MtBE convincing enough to declare it a “defective product” in 2002.

In the case, the South Tahoe Public Utility District successfully sued two oil companies that make MtBE.

South Tahoe found a third of its wells were contaminated by the chemical.

Lyondell Chemical Corporation and Shell Oil were the companies in the lawsuit.

But many other oil companies also make and sell MtBE.

The companies argue that they should not be held liable for MtBE contamination.

They say they added the chemical to gasoline for the sake of federally mandated cleaner burning fuel.

And the companies want federal protection in the form of legislation before Senator Gregg’s committee.

But New Hampshire’s two Representatives oppose the oil companies’ position.

They voted against the bill in the House.
Congressman Charlie Bass represents the 2nd District.
135 I don’t buy that argument, and I voted for the amendment to strike that language, because I’m not qualified to make that kind of judgement. That judgement should be made in a court of law. 146

The state has earmarked some money to help pay for MtBE contamination cleanup.

But MtBE is very expensive to purge from water and soil.

First district Congressman Jeb Bradley says MtBE contamination cleanup costs could be handled like asbestos related health costs.

Decades ago, asbestos companies entered legal settlements where they set aside money.

Bradley says the asbestos companies show that oil companies are asking too much from lawmakers.
14 And to give a liability shield for the mtbe manufacturers, absent some kind of settlement, that would insure that there is some compensation, some significant compensation, is really not appropriate, I don’t think. 14 331

Both of New Hampshire’s Congressmen urge Senator Gregg to help undo the MtBE immunity provision from the Energy Bill.

Senator Gregg was not available for comment on this story.

But the Committee he chairs, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, is expected to consider the bill in the coming weeks.