Nitpicking won’t clean up aquifers

The Inland Northwest isn’t the only area worried about the fate of its drinking water. Across the nation communities are struggling with ways to clean up aquifers and wells contaminated by the fuel additive MTBE (methyl tertiary-butyl ether). If the issue were properly framed, national leaders could arrive at solutions that protect water and direct cleanups. But powerful forces are involved and that means profits have become a competing interest.

The manufacturers of MTBE, which has been discovered in groundwater in nearly every state, have successfully lobbied the U.S. House of Representatives for protection against lawsuits. If the Senate agrees with that provision in the omnibus energy bill, municipalities will be stuck with the bill for cleaning up their drinking water.

Nobody disputes that MTBE is a highly soluble compound that can easily leech into groundwater. Indeed, the bill calls for phasing out MTBE by the end of 2014 and gives refineries $2 billion toward that goal. But if refineries can’t be sued, they won’t have any incentive to hasten the changeover to a more environmentally friendly fuel.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors is against the liability shield because it wants the refineries to pick up some of the cleanup costs. Many municipalities and the state of New Hampshire have sued MTBE manufacturers, claiming they knew or should have known about this environmental scourge.

Not so fast, says House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. The federal government mandated the use of MTBE with the Clean Air Act of 1990, so refineries shouldn’t be sued for doing what they were told. Wrong, say opponents, who point out that the feds mandated a fuel additive that would make fuel burn more cleanly but didn’t specify MTBE. There are alternatives, such as ethanol, but refineries chose MTBE because it was more profitable.

It’s an interesting debate, but it misses some big questions:

“If MTBE is so bad that it must be phased out, why wait until 2014? New York and California have already banned it and they’re getting by just fine. Delaying its departure will only bring more pollution and more clean-up controversies.

“Why is this environmental issue being decided in an energy bill? It’s this provision that killed the energy bill in 2003 and it will be a sticking point for many in the Senate this year. The White House tried to get rid of it two years ago.

“How will budget-strapped communities go about cleansing their already-tainted drinking water?

Congress needs to do more than protect and subsidize the manufacturers of MTBE. It needs to protect drinking water across the nation with a big-picture solution.