State suing oil companies to cover MTBE cleanup

PROVIDENCE – Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin and Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management Director Janet Coit on Sept. 6 announced that the state has filed a lawsuit against gasoline manufacturers to recover expenses associated with the cleanup of the gasoline additive Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether, or MTBE. The lawsuit, filed in United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island, addresses the ongoing environmental risk and long-term groundwater contamination arising from the oil companies’ use of MTBE and the resulting expensive cleanup, according to a news release. 

The lawsuit alleges that for many years, the defendants added MTBE to gasoline to increase its oxygen content. MTBE leaked from underground storage tanks and contaminated groundwater and soils throughout the United States.

The state has named as defendants in the case all of the major oil companies who supplied MTBE-containing gasoline to the Northeast, including ExxonMobil, British Petroleum, Chevron, Citgo, ConocoPhillips, Shell, Sunoco, Total and Valero. •

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