ENVIRONMENT
REPRIEVE FOR MTBE California governor pushes back phaseout date for gasoline additive
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ALES OF GASOLINE BLENDED
with an oxygen-boosting additive may continue in California for a year longer than expected. Citing concerns about gasoline supplies and prices, Gov. Gray Davis (D) has extended the state's phaseout deadline for methyl tertbutyl ether (MTBE) from the end of this year to Dec. 31,2003. Three years ago, Davis ordered MTBE phased out of gasoline sold in California because the state's drinking water supplies increasingly are contaminated with the chemical, which imparts a bad smell and taste to water. MTBE is widely used to make the cleaner-burning gasoline that, under the Clean Air Act, must be sold in polluted urban areas. Because refiners can now make
cleaner-burning gasoline without the addition of oxygenates such as MTBE, Davis asked EPA to waive a Clean Air Act mandate requiring such fuel to contain 2% oxygen by weight. But last year, EPA rejected that request. This means that, as MTBE is phased out, refiners will have to blend ethanol, another oxygenate, into gasoline sold in California. Current production, transportation, and distribution of ethanol is "insufficient" to allow California to make the switch without gasoline price spikes and shortages, according to Davis. Current estimates are that the state would need to import between 750 million and 900 million gal of ethanol per year. "We will watch developments very carefully as we decide how to
REMEDIATION
S0LUTIA FUNDS PCB CLEANUP, STUDIES Agreement with EPA could lead to more PCB actions in Alabama town
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OLUTIA HAS SIGNED A CON-
sent order with EPA to develop a plan to clean up polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contamination stemming from a former Monsanto manufacturing site in Anniston, Ala. According to an EPA spokesman, official announcement ofthe agreement is just days away, awaiting only court approval. After a 30day comment period, the order would becomefinaland then Solutia would undertake what is formally known as a Remedial Investigation & Feasibility Study Solutiahas already undertaken several cleanups in Anniston. Last October, for instance, Solutia HTTP://PUBS.ACS.ORG/CEN
signed a consent agreement with EPA to remove contaminated soil at 23 properties near the factory where Monsanto had for decades manufactured the once widely used electrical transformer insulation fluids. Production ceased in 1971, and Solutia—spun out of Monsanto in 1997—inherited the site along with its liabilities. Solutia's cleanup of the 23 sites—where PCB concentrations in the soil equaled or exceeded 10 ppm—got under way earlier this month. The new survey to which Solutia has committed itselfcould lead to an even more extensive cleanup. However, it is likely to take up to two years, says the EPA
proceed with the transition to ethanol," Davis says, adding that he would consider changing the MTBE deadline again ifnecessary The Renewable Fuels Association, which represents ethanol makers, criticized Davis and urged California refiners to end the use of MTBE voluntarily by the end of 2002. "Gov Davis' about-face on the MTBE phaseout schedule is completely unjustified and places political expediency ahead of safe drinking water," says Bob Dinneen, president of the associa-
Methyl ferf-butyl ether
tion.-CHERYLH0GUE
spokesman. Only then would EPA prepare a remediation plan based on the survey, the cost of which would fall to Solutia. Meanwhile, talks to settle aPCB contamination lawsuit seeking property andpersonal injury damagesfromSolutia came to a halt in an Alabama state court (C&EN, March 4, page 12). Company lawyers had complained to the Alabama Supreme Court that State Circuit Court Judge R. Joel Laird Jr. was unfairly pressuring them to settle. Laird then skewered the defense attorneys for making false statements.-MARC REISCH
CLEARANCE Soil is being removed to a depth of 12 inches from the yard of this Anniston home in Solutia-funded cleanup.
C&EN / MARCH 25. 2002
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