John Doolittle: “today we are about to further our independence on foreign sources of energy. I fully support that effort and urge my…”

“today we are about to further our independence on foreign sources of energy. I fully support that effort and urge my colleagues to do so as well. However, one item of particular concern to me is the contamination of groundwater by MTBE--a fuel additive that has been fully supported and promoted by this Congress and our Federal Government. It is interesting to note that MTBE was first approved for use as a fuel additive by the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, in 1979. In 1988, the EPA approved the use of MTBE once again and significantly increased the amount of it that could be used in fuel. In 1990, Congress passed amendments to the Clean Air Act which mandated a fuel oxygenate. In its regulations implementing those amendments, the EPA once again approved MTBE for use as an additive in gasoline. These three instances show direct promotion by the Congress and the Federal Government of the use of MTBE. It is important to point out that these actions, including the amendments to the Clean Air Act, were vigorously supported by both parties in Congress and many national environmental organizations which hailed MTBE as a great victory for clean air. While it's true that MTBE is a great product for cleaner air, it unfortunately contaminates the water. In fact, my constituents in South Lake Tahoe have personal experience with this problem because in 1996 they discovered that their water supply had been contaminated by MTBE.…”