Clinton Administration Decides Not to Grant California Waiver; Decision Rests with Bush

The Clinton Administration came to an end without acting on California's request for a waiver from the oxygen requirement in federal reformulated gasoline regulations.  The fate of the waiver request now falls to the Bush Administration, specifically newly appointed head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman.  California Governor Gray Davis has ordered that MTBE use be prohibited in the state as of December 31, 2002.  The state had argued that a waiver would allow them to transition out of MTBE more quickly and cost-effectively, with the assurance from the oil industry that it can produce cleaner burning gasoline without oxygenates.

A flurry of letters, phone calls and meetings between members of Congress and administration officials in the final days of the Clinton Administration ultimately succeeded in preventing any action on the waiver.  Specifically, former Coalition Chair, Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, Senators Tom Harkin of Iowa, Tom Daschle of South Dakota and Dick Durbin of Illinois and were instrumental in lobbying the Administration against the waiver.