Thomas Daschle: “Let us put this in the proper context. You pay an amount, but what are you going to pay when there is no alternative to…”

“Let us put this in the proper context. You pay an amount, but what are you going to pay when there is no alternative to MTBE? How much is that going to cost? If we phase out MTBE in California, and they are then forced to go to alkylates or iso-octane and you do not know what it is going to cost, you do not know whether a supply is going to be available and the people of California are forced to pay 30 or 40 cents more per gallon because that is the only available supply, I say the people of California would rise up in huge opposition. That is, of course, the choice of each of us has to make. What we are saying is we have a very careful and balanced approach in phasing out MTBE with ethanol in a way that gives every State an opportunity to fashion and to tailor its response to the circumstances they find themselves in, with credit trading, with the waiver opportunity, and with the DOE review, not to mention a delay of 1 year in the implementation should Senators wish to afford themselves of the opportunity we present. So there are tremendous protections for each one of these States should the Senators or should the States choose to use them.”