Harkin Talks Ethanol with Browner

February 21, 2000

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) spent some time on the phone last week with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Carol Browner, trying to make sure ethanol is the preferred substitute for MTBE in the nation. s reformulated gasoline (RFG) program. Several states have found MTBE contamination in water supplies, and there have been requests of EPA to waive the RFG oxygenate requirement without ethanol as an alternative.

Since California called for an end to MTBE use in gasoline and efforts to waive the oxygenate requirement surfaced, ethanol supporters have pulled out all the stops in an effort to prevent a waiver. Although Harkin made no mention of Browner. s response to his arguments in favor of ethanol. s role in the RFG program, he said he is concerned that EPA "may be influenced by arguments that are impermissible under the law."

In a letter to Browner earlier this month, Harkin said there is no question that oil companies. use of MTBE created a major water contamination problem in many areas of the country, but that is not a valid reason to waive the oxygen content requirement. Air quality is the only permissible basis for a waiver under the law.

Citing water contamination in support of a waiver sets up a false choice between producing cleaner-burning gasoline and protecting water supplies, said Harkin. It is a false choice, because it ignores an obvious solution: replace toxic MTBE in gasoline with ethanol, a fuel additive so clean and safe that you can drink it, he added.

"The very same petroleum industry that brought us MTBE is now seeking to eliminate the oxygen content requirement for cleaner gasoline because MTBE has contaminated water," Harkin said. "It takes real audacity to push for the waiver of a clean air requirement after poisoning water supplies around the country. Fortunately, the Clean Air Act does not allow a waiver on this basis."