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CUTTING BACK MTBE EPA panel says additive, while leading to cleaner air, is polluting water... n Environmental Protection Agency advisory panel last week called for a substantial reduction in the use of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) as a gasoline additive. The group also recommended that Congress remove the current requirement that 2% of reformulated gasoline by weight consist of oxygen—a mandate of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. MTBE is by far the most common oxygenate employed to meet that mandate. The panel was appointed by EPA Administrator Carol M. Browner in November 1998 to address the growing problem of MTBE from leaking gasoline tanks and from spills contaminating water supplies. The additive has been used in gasoline since 1979 to raise octane levels, but in recent years has been added in much larger amounts as a clean-burning oxygenate in gasoline that is reformulated to improve air quality in polluted areas. The federal reformulated gasoline program "has been a tremendous help to air quality," according to Daniel S. Greenbaum, chairman of the 13-member panel and president of Cambridge, Mass.-based Health Effects Institute, a nonprofit group supported by EPA and industry. "We urge all parties to take quick action to preserve these benefits while minimizing current and future contamination of the nation's drinking water supplies." Other members of the panel represent state, industry, and environmental groups. At a press conference to announce the report, Greenbaum said the problem of MTBE in the water supply is not a health and safety issue, but an environmental one. Although 5 to 10% of drinking water supplies in areas where high-oxygenate gasoline is being used have detectable amounts of MTBE, the majority are "well below levels of public health concern," the panel said. MTBE is a known carcinogen in animals, but a link to human carcinogenicity has not been made. Greenbaum noted that MTBE is, in fact, less toxic than other gasoline components. EPA does not have a standard for MTBE in water.
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However, problems with taste and odor in contaminated areas have caused some communities to stop using their water supplies, Greenbaum said. The panel made several recommendations for balancing clean air and clean water issues. In addition to calling for a substantial, but as yet unspecified, re-
Browner (left) and Greenbaum
duction in MTBE use, it said that water protection programs should be strengthened, that EPA should continue to seek mechanisms to maintain air quality, and that future additives or products should be fully tested before widespread use— so that similar problems don't occur in the future, Greenbaum said. "The recommendations I received from the panel," Browner said in a statement, "confirm EPA's belief that we must begin to significantly reduce the use of MTBE in gasoline as quickly as possible without sacrificing the gains weVe made in achieving cleaner air." Part of the panel's proposal to reduce
MTBE use would require legislation: The panel said removing the 2% oxygen requirement would "ensure that adequate fuel supplies can be blended in a cost-effective manner." "EPA is committed to working with Congress to provide a targeted legislative solution that maintains our air quality gains and allows for the reduction of MTBE," Browner said. At the press conference, Robert Perciasepe, EPA's assistant administrator for the Office of Air & Radiation, stressed that such legislation must preserve the role of renewable fuels in the gasoline supply. Not all of the panel's recommendations were unanimous. In a dissenting opinion, panel member Todd C. Sneller, administrator of the Nebraska Ethanol Board, criticized the proposal to remove the 2% oxygen standard, saying it did not take into account all public policy objectives related to the standard. EPA's insistence on maintaining the role of renewable fuels likely would address these concerns. And Lyondell Chemical, the largest North American MTBE producer, which also had a representative on the panel, said there had been "an emotional rush to judgment" in condemning MTBE. The company says continuing to address problems with leaking underground storage tanks will greatly reduce the release of gasoline, and therefore MTBE. The Oxygenated Fuels Association, an industry group, has expressed a similar sentiment, saying once water protection problems are addressed, there will be no need to restrict clean-fuel options." A summary of the panel's recommendations is available on the Internet (http: //www.epa.gov/oms/consumer/fuels/ oxypanel/blueribb.htm). The full report is expected later this month. Julie Grisham
... which makes things go from bad to worse for MTBE makers roducers of methyl tert-buty\ ether (MTBE) and its main feedstock, methanol, thought things couldn't get any worse—but they did. Three months ago, thesefirmslearned of a ban on MTBE in California that, if implemented, would take 25% of the global MTBE market off the map. Now, they are
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faced with a recommendation by an Environmental Protection Agency advisory panel that use of the fuel additive be reduced or eliminated in the rest of the country—another 40% of the global market Methanol producers are doing poorly today, even without bans and cutbacks. Several U.S. methanol plants are currentAUGUST2,1999C&EN
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