Beach Party

The Bush Administration has added a waiver to the energy bill in Congress that clears oil and chemical companies of any liability for MTBE pollution. With support from Tom Delay, the waiver was approved in committee and is now on the House floor. Unfortunately, the oil companies that decided to to introduce MTBEs knew about the potential water pollution problems at the time. The choices are to leave the pollution in lakes and rivers, have the tax payers pick up the bill or have the responsible oil companies pay. Lake Tahoe's MTBE clean up was paid for by oil companies after courts found them responsible.

Courts sided against MTBE producers in two California settlements that put the big producers on edge. In 2002, seven companies, including ChevronTexaco and Lyondell, settled for $69 million to clean up MTBE in South Lake Tahoe, Calif. Then in 2003, 18 companies, including Exxon Mobil and Shell, settled a suit brought by Santa Monica, Calif., agreeing to spend at least $200 million on a filtration system to remove MTBE from the city's water.

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