On September 7, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, chaired by Senator Bob Smith of New Hampshire, voted to approve legislation that would ban the use of MTBE in four years and create a new national Clean Alternative Fuel Program, which could potentially triple the demand for ethanol over the next ten years.

S. 2962, as amended by the committee, reflects months of negotiation between all the interested parties, including the ethanol industry, agricultural and environmental organizations, and the oil industry. The bill does the following:

• Bans the use of MTBE in 4 years;
• Creates a national Clean Alternative Fuel Program to replace the reformulated gasoline oxygen content requirement; the program includes a renewable fuel content requirement which will triple the demand for ethanol over the next ten years;
• Requires the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to study the air quality impacts of eliminating the oxygen requirement and provides the Environmental Protection Agency with the authority to regulate on the basis of those studies to preserve the emissions benefits of reformulated gasoline.
• Includes a cap on the level of aromatics used in reformulated gasoline to prevent against air quality backsliding.

"The Environmental Protection Agency applauds the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee for taking action to phase out the use of the fuel additive MTBE," said Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Carol Browner.

More information on the legislation can be found on the Congressional web site at: http://www.senate.gov/