Press Release: Secretary Rooney Calls on Boxer to Support Bilbray/Feinstein MTBE Legislation

For Immediate Release (C-29-97)
Contact: Communications Office (916) 324-9670
December 9, 1997

555 Capitol Mall, Suite 525
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 324-9670
FAX (916) 445-5563

SACRAMENTO,CALIFORNIA - California Secretary for Environmental Protection Peter M. Rooney today testified at a hearing of the U. S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works in the State Capitol. California Senator Barbara Boxer held the hearing to receive testimony on the issue of potential drinking water contamination by MTBE (Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether), an oxygenate added to California's reformulated gasoline under requirements of the Federal Clean Air Act.

Secretary Rooney made the following comments:

"No state law or regulation mandates the use of MTBE. In fact, California's Cleaner Burning Gasoline regulations provide the refining industry with the ultimate flexibility. As long as the performance standard is met, as long as the emission reductions are realized, California regulation allows Cleaner Burning Gasoline to be made without any oxygenate at all."

"The Federal Clean Air Act specifically pre-empts that flexibility. That's why the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA) has been on record for the past two years in support of efforts by California Representative Brian Bilbray, a former member of the Air Resources Board, that would remove that year-round oxygenate mandate from the Federal Clean Air Act, at least with respect to California. I am also pleased to note that Senator Feinstein has recently announced that she will introduce a companion bill to HR 630 in the Senate this January."

"Under California regulations, the choice is left to refiners; there is no regulatory impediment to produce Cleaner Burning Gasoline using any oxygenate of choice, or no oxygenate at all. It is the Federal Clean Air Act that explicitly requires that reformulated gasoline in specified areas contain at least 2 percent oxygenate by weight in gasoline year-round."

"The clear and consistent message we would like the Committee to hear is California's support and desire for California fuel regulations to be the controlling rules in California. California views efforts like HR 630 as a prelude to further flexibility, not further restrictions."

"Cal/EPA and its sister agencies are moving aggressively to address public concerns about the impact of MTBE and its use on human health and the environment. We have taken, and will continue to take, swift action to eliminate contamination from any source."

"Cal/EPA is working closely with the Department of Health Services to establish primary and secondary drinking water standards for MTBE, and will expedite review of all health-required actions."

"The federally mandated oxygenate rule is an example of what can happen when the federal government tells states not just what to do, but how to do it. Do not mandate technology. Set standards, hold us to them, but allow us to determine how best to meet them--in this case, through California's far stricter reformulated
gasoline requirements that build in flexibility for producers."

Rooney asked Senator Boxer to join Senator Feinstein and Representative Bilbray in supporting a modification to the Federal Clean Air Act that would allow formulation of clean fuels with or without oxygenates.

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