MTBE and Legislation

Paper Summary:

From the mass of regulations generated by the 1990 Amendments to the Clean Air Act (CAA) the increased use of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) as an oxygen-enhancing additive in gasoline (intended to reduce carbon monoxide emissions produced the most widespread public response and the greatest amount of regulatory and legislative reshuffling. The paper shows that from local government in Fairbanks, Alaska to the State Senate of California to the Environmental Protection Agency, citizens, legislators, regulators and various commercial interests have been involved in a struggle to determine how best to protect the public interest as regards the use of MTBE. The paper examines the issue of MTBE as a likely human carcinogen that produces significant reductions in carbon monoxide emissions, but is sometimes claimed to be an airborne health hazard and has been definitively shown to contaminate water supplies.

From the Paper:

"The drawbacks of ethanol are relatively minor. It increases emission of the toxic pollutant acetaldehyde, but still produces overall reductions in air contamination, and, in water, it increases "the solubility of other gasoline contaminants' plumes allowing the to spread further." Ethanol's principal drawbacks are economic. It cannot be practically transported by pipeline and is only practically produced in areas where the raw materials are readily available, i.e., the Midwest. Since 74 percent of the demand for RFG and oxygenated fuels is on the East and West coasts, and ethanol is also more expensive to produce because it "requires additional processing to meet the volatility requirements" of RFG, its use would probably increase the costs of cleaner-burning fuels considerably. The Clinton administration, not insusceptible itself to agricultural interests, proposed that the EPA require that "at least thirty percent of oxygenates in gasoline be renewable," which meant, in effect, a mandate for higher ethanol use since it is the primary fuel additive considered to be renewable, i.e., derived from organic sources. But the fate of ethanol will probably not be decided for some time as the debate over MTBE continues."

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• Research Paper # 67438 : "Pollution Roulette: Methyl Tertiary Butyl-Ether "

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