What’s the EPA trying to hide?
What’s the EPA trying to hide?
One of the major sticking points in the energy bill is the ongoing controversy over the gasoline additive MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether), a powerful pollutant that has seeped into the nation’s water supply. The corporations which manufacture MTBE refuse to clean the water their product has dirtied — forcing states to sue them to take responsibility — and now conservatives in Congress are trying to insert liability lawsuit waivers that would protect the polluters.
But a bipartisan coalition of over twenty senators are trying to make the Environmental Protection Agency come clean about its own behind the scenes dirty work. It seems that “key elements” of an internal agency document conclude that MTBE is “a likely carcinogen.” The letter makes clear that “if ingestion of MTBE is determined to cause adverse human health effects, such as cancer, it is imperative that [lawmakers] have that information.”
It doesn’t look like the EPA is going to budge. A spokeswoman has already stated, “The scientific process should not be compromised for political expediency.” And now, though EPA officials do not dispute the characterization of MTBE as a likely carcinogen, they are suddenly backing off of the document: “EPA spokeswoman Eryn Witcher said the draft paper reflects ‘incomplete information’ developed early in the MTBE review process and has yet to undergo internal or external peer reviews.”
The EPA has already gotten caught fixing facts to serve the interests of the power plant industry. Are they trying to pay the oil industry the same favor?
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Several MTBE manufacturers are campaign financers of DeLay and also Bush buddies.
July 22nd, 2005 at 1:06 pm“The EPA has already gotten caught fixing facts to serve the interests of the power plant industry. Are they trying to pay the oil industry the same favor?”
Yes
July 22nd, 2005 at 1:50 pmThe nuclear issue isn’t getting enough talk. The US is getting back in bed with the industry and teaming up with India. Bush is pushing for new plants here in the US: during a speech at the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Plant in Maryland on 22 June 2005 Bush pushed for an energy bill that supports the nuke industry, “The energy bill will help us expand our use of the one energy source that is completely domestic, plentiful in quantity, environmentally friendly and able to generate massive amounts of electricity. And that’s nuclear power.” What about China? China is leading the push for new plants, which is ignored in a piece run on CAFP’s homepage today: http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=897843. Remember both Bush and Kerry standing behind the podium during the debates agreeing that nuclear proliferation is the biggest threat we face today? Empty words leaving the world’s population less secure.
July 22nd, 2005 at 2:57 pmThe energy companies see what happened to the asbestos companies and don’t want that to happen to them. So the repubs are trying to limit their responsibility for the costs of cleaning up all the tainted wells.
We should make a deal on this one. It was the government who told them to use MTBE in their formulations for air pollution. I’m not really sure who came up with MTBE as being the preferred addative. (apparently ethanol does much the same thing w/ less toxics).
Give us a fully battery operated car that will go 400-500 miles. Get us off the combustion engine!
July 22nd, 2005 at 2:58 pm…Are they trying to pay the oil industry the same favor?…duh. This is GW’s EPA, not the real EPA, remember.
July 22nd, 2005 at 4:01 pm“The EPA has already gotten caught fixing facts to serve the interests of the power plant industry. Are they trying to pay the oil industry the same favor?�
Does Big Business shit in our woods?
July 22nd, 2005 at 4:09 pmSince the government forced oil companies to put MTBE in the gasoline in the first place, the government should help pay for the cleanup. You liberals always want someone else to pay for the decisions you make.
In fact, there is a special tax on gasoline, currently approximately 2 cents per gallon, specifically for cleanup of gasoline leaks. Such cleanup projects are occurring right now at gas stations all over America.
Hopefully Mipe isn’t being paid too much for his/her ignorance.
July 23rd, 2005 at 11:24 amhttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7037844/site/newsweek/
see this article…40 percent of the car in Bazil have engines which run off a gas/ethanol. The cars are made by Ford.
July 23rd, 2005 at 2:30 pmThe National Academy of Science found that mtbe significantly worsens auto emissions. That was back in the late 90’s. The EPA admits that it causes us to lose a few miles traveled for a gallon of gasoline over regular gasoline. That tells me it has to be causing more pollution if less fuel is being burned. The EPA admits that it increases formaldehyde emissions significantly. They knew before it was mandated to be used it would pollute groundwater. Everyone knew it, it was written up and circulated widely when the Clean Air Act was legislated. Americans didn’t pay attention. Americans think, “well, if it gets me, I can sue them and get rich.” What good was mtbe in the first place. There is only one group that profits from mtbe use, pharmaceutical companies. Everyone thinks big oil owns Washington while pharmaceuticals are the number one, by far, by hundreds of percents margins, most profitable market in the history of mankind. They are the only winners from mtbe. Look at the trillion dollar loan given to build the mtbe production facilities back in the early nineties to meet the requirements of the mtbe mandate of the Clean Air Act, it came from banks that have huge interests in maintaining liquidity through pharmaceutical sales. No matter how much gets told about mtbe, I am afraid the whole story will go by the wayside and the real evil behind the story will walk away as winners as we all continue to drink and bathe in mtbe tainted water while research on the health effects of mtbe, which are required by law to be done before a gasoline additive is introduced to the public, never get done.
July 25th, 2005 at 7:30 amMTBE has been identified by Health Canada as a known carcinogen. So you would think that Canadian refineries would have stopped adding it to gasoline. You would be wrong.
The North American Free Trade Act (NAFTA) prevents Canadian business from gaining any unfair business advantage over American refineries. Eliminating MTBE reduces cost and would give Canadian refineries an ‘unfair’ price advantage. You wonder why we’re pissed off??!!
July 28th, 2005 at 9:29 am[...] I’m beginning to see a pattern here. Some neo-con writes a document, it gets leaked to the media, and the particular portion of the government responsible for the document backpeddles faster than the Road Runner. This time it’s the E.P.A.’s turn to do the That’s-Not-What-We-Meant Dance. [...]
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