Angie Craig: “I don't blame him for his frustration over MTBEs. What he didn't say was that it was a Federal program and a Federal…”

“I don't blame him for his frustration over MTBEs. What he didn't say was that it was a Federal program and a Federal mandate. If there is a liability, maybe it ought to be the Federal Government. It was the Clean Air Act that drove States in meeting their air shed requirements to address additives to gasoline that would result in some improvement in that pollution. I hope we can sit down and resolve this issue apart from the bill that is currently on the Senate floor as it relates to the concern of the Northeast or any State that has experienced pollution and now has a groundwater problem as a result of a Federal program and a Federal mandate passed by this Congress in a Clean Air Act. The product, yes, produced independently by a private company to meet a Federal mandate and now, of course, years later, after the application of that product, we find that there were environmental consequences. For a few moments this morning I want to talk about the energy bill we have before us, the Energy Policy Act of 2003, and to bring some context to it, on where I believe we are and how I believe we ought to approach this particular piece of legislation.”