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Energy:
Strike Liability Waiver for MTBE Manufacturers

Our Position: support
Bill Number: H.AMDT.370 to HR6
Sponsor: Lois Capps (D-CA)
Legislative Session: 2005

Representative Lois Capps (D-CA) sought to strike a provision in the energy bill that would protect manufacturers of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) from liability.  MTBE, a gasoline additive that has polluted an estimated 1,861 drinking water systems in at least 29 states, is a possible cancer-causing chemical.  The liability waiver effectively leaves local taxpayers and water consumers, rather than MTBE manufacturers and oil companies, to pay for the cleanup of contaminated drinking water supplies. 

Status

The amendment to HR 6 failed by a vote of 213 - 219.

Background

MTBE, a byproduct of petroleum refining, migrates easily through groundwater.  Once contaminated, groundwater supplies are expensive to clean up.  Court documents show that MTBE producers sold this chemical knowing that it could contaminate groundwater.  Experts have estimated the cost of cleaning up known MTBE contamination to be $29 billion.   Rather than holding the manufacturers accountable for the cleanup, though, the energy bill shields these companies from liability, leaving communities to pay the cleanup bill.  The liability waiver would retroactively block hundreds of communities' legitimate lawsuits that have already been filed and preempt future efforts by communities to force the manufacturers to pay for cleanup.