Letter: Do not let gasoline additive invade Nevada

Saturday, April 25, 1998 | 3:59 a.m.

I feel that Marc Rigas needs a little more information on the subject of MTBE being added to our gasoline supply. I could only recoil with horror reading his letter, as he is almost as misinformed as the Clark County Health District.

As a former resident of California and a frequent visitor, I am aware of a few facts that obviously Rigas has not researched.

The first problem is that MTBE has been found to migrate into the drinking water in many locations. They say that this is 10 to 200 times the so-called safe level. In the first place, the safe level has not as yet been definitely determined for this carcinogen by anyone.

It's all guesswork so far. How can the benefits outweigh the risks if even one case of cancer is attributed to this folly?

The second serious side effect for this dangerous chemical is that it erodes seals in automobile engines. This has been proven by many agencies. This is the reason that the airline industries are exempt from this invasion as the addition of MTBE in their fuel would cause corrosion in their fuel liens.

There is one major oil company in California that is contemplating refusing to add this chemical to their gasoline as they feel the fines that might be imposed by the EPA would probably be much less than the lawsuits caused by motorists as the result of their damage and potential dangers.

Last (although there are a lot more reasons from sources more informed than I), independent studies have not shown a significant improvement attributable to the addition of MTBE in the air quality in California in the year-plus that this program has been in effect.

Don't let this plague that has invaded California seep into Nevada. Write your congressman, the Clark County Health District, the mayor and anyone else you can think of to help keep Nevada safe.

Kathleen Louden