Lois Capps: “I rise in opposition, strong opposition to this bill. My colleagues have outlined the many problems with it. It does…”

“I rise in opposition, strong opposition to this bill. My colleagues have outlined the many problems with it. It does nothing to impact gas prices. In fact, according to the Energy Information Agency, it will raise prices at the pump. It gives billions to industries with already-soaring profits, and it weakens a host of environmental laws. Mr. Chairman, one provision epitomizes the bill's failures. H.R. 6 grants liability protection for people who make MTBE who are responsible for polluting groundwater in dozens of States, leaving hundreds of communities saddled with billions of dollars in cleanup costs. Supporters claim it is fair to protect MTBE producers from liability since Congress mandated its use in the Clean Air Act, but there is no mandate for MTBE and even the chairman of the committee has acknowledged as much. In fact, 120 million barrels were added to gasoline before the clean air regulations were ever issued. Most damning, documents unearthed in court cases show that manufacturers knew the dangers MTBE posed to groundwater, and they still added it to gasoline. The result is what we have today, over 1,800 contamination sites in 29 different States serving 45 million Americans. I wanted to offer an amendment to strike this provision because in its wisdom the House leadership would not want to vote on this. Perhaps it is because too many Members on both sides of the aisle represent districts with bad MTBE problems in places where lawsuits are pending.…”