Point Reyes Light- October 29, 1998
Additive MTBE no longer required here
The state Air Resources Board, in cooperation with the federal Environmental Protection Agency has lifted a state-mandated requirement for the Bay Area and most of California, thereby reducing year-round use of the gasoline additive MTBE.
Board spokesman Allan Hirsch told The Light that the previously wintertime oxygenate requirement for cleaner-burning gas was an "unnecessary rule" in Northern California where carbon-monoxide levels have dropped.
MTBE became an issue in West Marin when a gas station attendant, Todd Melton of Point Reyes Station, developed skin problems and blood poisoning apparently from exposure to the additive.
The issue has now crept into the Assembly race between incumbent Kerry Mazzoni and her Republican challenger Russ Weiner, with each candidate claiming to be more anti-MTBE than the other.
"We have enjoyed lower carbon-dioxide levels during the past six winters because of the oxygenated gas," Air Resources Board spokesman Hirsch told The Light. "This is true in everywhere in the state except Los Angeles. But we felt we could lift the requirement because motor vehicles are cleaner now - about 90 percent cleaner than they were in the '70s."
Essentially, the board's decision enables Bay Area oil refineries to continue what they've been permitted to do during the warmer months when SMOG - rather than carbon dioxide - is the biggest problem; they can distribute gas without an added oxygenate, Hirsch said.
While MTBE has been proven to lower carbon-dioxide levels, it appears to have a minimum, indirect impact on SMOG, he explained, adding that the coastal Bay Area has less SMOG than other regions in California.
For these reasons, he said, "from February through September, we have allowed Bay Area refineries to choose the amount of MTBE or an alternative oxygenate like ethanol to add to their gas. They don't even have to use an oxygenate at all - as long as they show that their fuel meets air-quality standards."
By October's end, he said, MTBE may be gone from all of Marin County's regular-grade gasoline for good. (Premium gas, however, requires some MTBE or ethanol to maintain high-octane levels, he said.)
Chevron, for example, produces an oxygen-free fuel that has already been legally distributed in the Bay Area during the warmer months; and Tosco uses ethanol in some of its Union 76 stations in Marin, Sonoma, and Contra Costa counties, he said.
Chevron has never advocated MTBE and is working to "get that stuff out of gasoline because of environmental and remediation concerns," said company spokesman Fred Corell.
MTBE, classified as a possible human carcinogenic, has seeped into the groundwater (primarily because of leaking underground tanks) at about 60 sites in Marin County - five of which are in West Marin.
Although residents here rely on surface-water sources for their drinking water, folks in other counties have struggled with wells and reservoirs poisoned by MTBE and have had to resort to bottled water.
Ideally, the federal government will amend the 1990 federal Clean Air Act, which established wintertime and summertime oxygenate requirements for California, Correll said.
"That was a recipe-driven legislation. We would like the flexibility to develop formulas that would meet all standards for cleaner-burning gas without having to use an oxygenate such as MTBE."
For example, he said, a year-round mandate for oxygenates is still in effect in Sacramento, Los Angeles, and other parts of the state.
"The oil companies are on the same page as the Air Resources Board in that we both would like a change in the federal law," Air Resources Board spokesman Hirsch said.
"As long as that law is in effect, refiners will have to continue depending on MTBE because it's the only oxygenate available in enough quantity to meet California's needs."
The alternative ethanol is derived from corn, and there's not enough of it to flavor 37 million gallons of gasoline per day - California's average consumption, Hirsch said.
US Senator Dianne Feinstein is advocating a bill that would release Sacramento and Southern California from the oxygenate mandate, Hirsch said, adding that the Air Resources Board supports her legislation.