Senate Committee Approves MTBE Ban Bill

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, chaired by Vermont Senator Jim Jeffords, recently approved S. 950, legislation introduced by New Hampshire Representative Bob Smith that would ban the use of MTBE in four years while allowing governors to waive the oxygen standard in reformulated gasoline. Unlike the bill approved last year by the Committee, S. 950 does not include any provisions for a renewable fuel standard and would eliminate the volatility waiver for ethanol-blended conventional gasoline.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota has vowed the bill will not be brought to the Senate floor without a renewable fuel standard. Senator Daschle has a bill pending before the Committee, S. 670, that would ban MTBE, allow governors to waive the oxygen standard and establish a renewable fuels standard designed to triple the size of the ethanol industry in ten years.