EPA strikes out on MTBE

By Bonner Cohen Copyright 1999 Washington Times August 9, 1999

"There isn't a decision I make on any given day that's not related to the health of the American people."
EPA Administrator Carol Browner
Forbes Magazine, October 20, 1997

In taking the Hippocratic oath, fledgling physicians solemnly pledge they will, "First, do no harm." That the oath has survived over the centuries is eloquent testimony that those who oversee the medical profession's code of conduct recognize the unique responsibility doctors have to protect the health of people in their care.

Unfortunately, federal regulatory agencies, even those acting in the name of public health, have no equivalent to the Hippocratic oath. More concerned with procedures than with outcomes, the regulatory behemoths that inhabit Washington are constantly on the lookout for ways to expand their power. And if this sometimes means rushing ahead with a grandiose scheme without a proper understanding of the elements involved, then so be it.

The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) misadventure with the gasoline additive MTBE is a case in point. Once embraced by EPA as an effective weapon in the agency's war on air pollution, MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether) has become an outcast. Its fall from grace was brought on by public outcry over the presence of MTBE in the nation's drinking water supply.

On July 27 an EPA-appointed blue-ribbon panel grimly announced it was recommending that the use of MTBE be "reduced substantially" because it turns up in groundwater after leaking from gas stations and underground storage tanks. Even though most detections were well below levels that pose a risk to public health, enough people from Maine to California had been frightened and enough water systems contaminated for the panel to urge radically changing course.

What's remarkable about the panel's findings is that they are not based on any new data. The panel's members simply reviewed the same data that had been available to EPA for years. But while EPA has been a tireless cheerleader for MTBE and other so-called "reformulated" gasolines, the panel reviewed the data and came to an entirely different conclusion. In truth, EPA was caught off guard about the problems associated with MTBE because it never bothered to conduct a scientific evaluation of the health effects of oxygenated fuels - not just MTBE, but also ethanol and methanol. What's worse, it ignored warnings from its own scientists years ago that MTBE could make its way into ground water.

EPA's MTBE debacle got under way in 1990 with the enactment of a host of amendments to the Clean Air Act. One of those amendments instructed EPA to develop a reformulated gasoline program for the nation's most polluted cities, with the goal of reducing carbon monoxide emissions from cars and trucks. EPA unveiled its reformulated gasoline program with great fanfare in 1993 and promptly mandated the use of what it touted as cleaner-burning oxygenated fuels in 39 metropolitan areas beginning in 1995.

In accordance with EPA's new policy, oil companies were required to supply the targeted metropolitan areas with oxygenated fuels. While some oil refiners chose corn-based ethanol, most decided to use octane-boosting MTBE. When added to standard gasoline, MTBE raises its oxygen content, which in turn reduces emissions of carbon monoxide, particularly in older vehicles.

Such was the theory, and in practice MTBE did improve air quality in the cities where it was in use. It did so, however, at a cost that ultimately negated whatever benefits it achieved.

Had EPA looked before it leaped, it would have noticed a most unsettling characteristic of MTBE. Unlike standard gasoline, which, when spilled or leaked, does not spread far and breaks down over time, MTBE is highly soluble in water. Once it reaches ground water it spreads rapidly. EPA's own scientists had warned of just such a likelihood in a study released for external review in December 1992. The study, "Alternative Fuels Research Strategy," (EPA: 600-AT-92/002) set up a framework for comparative risk assessments of MTBE, ethanol, ETBE, methanol and compressed natural gas. Written in the hope that its findings would generate a full-fledged research program at EPA to investigate alternative fuels, the study instead did little more than gather dust at the agency. Its warnings went unheeded.

Sure enough, in 1996, MTBE was detected in the water system of Santa Monica, Calif., as a result of leaks from gas stations and underground storage tanks. By 1998, MTBE had been found in water in more than 10,000 locations throughout Central and Northern California. When present in large enough quantities, MTBE gives off an offensive odor and turns water a murky shade of brown. With political pressure building in affected communities and in Congress to do something about the problem, Carol Browner finally set up her blue-ribbon panel.

Cleaning up the mess that is EPA's reformulated gas program is going to take years. There isn't enough ethanol to replace MTBE, putting the whole alternative fuels program in doubt. Gas prices are likely to go up in those states still under EPA's reformulated gasoline mandate, as production of MTBE is cut back. Oil companies don't know whether the $7 billion they spent converting their refineries to make MTBE will ever be recouped.

Much of this could have been avoided if EPA had followed the advice of its own scientists and familiarized itself with the properties of the chemicals it was putting into communities across the nation. EPA knows older underground storage tanks are prone to leaks, and an adequate understanding of the peculiarities of MTBE would have alerted the agency to trouble ahead. In fact, Carol Browner's agency didn't raise a finger until political pressure forced it to do so.

And she talks about protecting public health?

Bonner R. Cohen is a senior fellow at the Lexington Institute in Arlington.

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