A January 16 airing of a 60 Minutes investigative report on MTBE and the growing water contamination crisis, especially in California, has increased awareness of the public threat posed by MTBE to water quality across the nation. At the same time, the report's dismissal of ethanol as a viable alternative to MTBE has raised ire among ethanol supporters. "By focusing almost exclusively on MTBE, your story set up a false choice between clean water and clean air. You scarcely mentioned the obvious answer: ethanol," Iowa Senator Tom Harkin responded. "60 Minutes must have succumbed to the blue smoke put out by Big Oil, which brought us MTBE and all its problems in the first place."
"Your report clearly demonstrated the need to remove MTBE from the nation's motor fuel supply," said Coalition Chair Governor Tom Vilsack and Vice Chair Governor Mike Johanns. "The Coalition believes that a transition from MTBE to other oxygenates is both feasible and practical. This transition maintains the air quality benefits of oxygenated fuel while simultaneously eliminating the water quality problems of MTBE, a win-win solution."
The Coalition letter may be found at www.ethanol-gec.org/01202000.htm
National Corn Growers Association President Lynn Jensen said, "The U.S. Department of agriculture and other sources indicate that ethanol could successfully replace MTBE nationwide by 2004 - with negligible effects on gasoline prices and no disruption in supply."
Representative Greg Ganske of Iowa faulted the program for blaming Congress for refiners' decision to use MTBE in reformulated gasoline. "The choice of oxygenates was left to the refiners," Ganske said. "It so happens they chose MTBE rather than the safe alternative, ethanol." Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley said, "I can assure you that we farm state legislative authors of the 1990 Clean Air oxygenate requirement intended to boost farmers and ethanol, not Big Oil and MTBE."
"We should not allow the unintended consequences of one oxygenate - MTBE - to undermine the clean air benefits which have been achieved," said Eric Vaughn of the Renewable Fuels Association, noting the tremendous success of the ethanol-reformulated gasoline program in Chicago.
