A bill forwarded to the Senate Health, Education and Welfare Committee would eliminate the gasoline additive methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) in Rhode Island by next year.
Federal law requires gasoline companies to sell reformulated gasoline, which contains chemicals to increase its oxygen content, in the parts of the country with the worst smog problems. The chemicals, called oxygenates, reduce air pollution by making gasoline burn cleaner. More than 30 percent of the gasoline sold in the U.S. contains oxygenates. Since MTBE is one of the cheapest oxygenates, it is found in about 87 percent of the reformulated gasoline sold in the U.S.
Seifert Systems Invests in Energy Efficiency to Strengthen Operations
For manufacturers, energy is more than just another operating expense. It plays a critical role…
Learn More
The additive is known to cause cancer in animals and a 1999 Environmental Protection Agency panel recommended that MTBE be reduced in use as a gasoline additive because of the threat it poses to drinking water supplies.
Residents of Pascoag were unable to drink their water for four months after high concentrations of MTBE were found in the village’s wells last September. A connection to the neighboring village’s water supply
finally gave Pascoag residents drinkable water, but it could be years until the contamination in their own wells is cleaned up.
