Lincoln Chafee: “this is a very complicated subject. It is not only the pronunciation of MTBE that is complicated. The whole area of…”

“this is a very complicated subject. It is not only the pronunciation of MTBE that is complicated. The whole area of oxygenates as additives to gasoline adds to the complication that we face. There have been several references, and aptly so, to the blue-ribbon panel that EPA established to look into MTBE and decide to the best of its ability what ought to be done. This blue-ribbon panel has just reported, so we have hardly had a chance to see it. I think it was a report in the last 2 weeks. So we have hardly had a chance to see it. I would point this out: The report looked to a reduction in the use of MTBE, whereas, if you note from the sense-of-the-Senate resolution that the Senator from California has, she looks to a complete phaseout--phaseout meaning end the production of, use of, MTBE, in order, she says, to address the threats posed by it. As I said in my opening remarks, this is a complicated issue. We have had two hearings on it in the Committee on Environment and Public Works which has jurisdiction over this matter, and we have been waiting for the report which now has just come in. In September, I can promise everyone here that, indeed--the Senator from California is a member of our committee--we will have further hearings on it and decide what recommendations we will make to the full Congress.”