Greg Ganske: “on January 16, 60 Minutes broadcast into the homes of millions of Americans an important story about water quality. A…”

“on January 16, 60 Minutes broadcast into the homes of millions of Americans an important story about water quality. A chemical additive is used to improve a car's performance and clean the air. It has seeps into groundwater supplies throughout the Nation. It makes water stink. It causes water to smell and taste like turpentine, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency thinks it may cause cancer. This chemical is methyl tert-butyl ether, MTBE. Mr. Speaker, here is a sample of MTBE in this vial. If I smell this, oo-wee, this stuff smells bad. I will say something else. It takes only one teaspoon of this stuff to make an Olympic-sized swimming pool smell and taste like this sample, like turpentine. This little vial here contains several teaspoons of MTBE. 60 Minutes reported that MTBE-contaminated water is being found all across the country, in places like Santa Monica, Albuquerque, Denver, Dallas, among other places. Water wells in Long Island and New Jersey are contaminated with this stuff. One could say, okay, I can see how it got into the water there. A lot of MTBE is used in those markets. Well, I want to say something. It is not only a problem in those high-use areas. Last month, Iowa's Department of Natural Resources issued a report that showed that 32 percent of groundwater samples had MTBE levels of at least 15 micrograms per liter.”