Fears surround gasoline treatment

Art Nadler

Friday, June 26, 1998 | 11:30 a.m.

A proposal to use a chemically treated gasoline in Clark County has some Health District board members fearful that the city's ground water supply will be poisoned.

Since 1992, California gasoline has had methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) added to it to reduce toxic emissions. The additive has come under scrutiny recently as being a suspected human carcinogen.

A report released this month from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California appears to lend some support to this suspicion. It reported MTBE's widespread usage has contaminated groundwater in some urban areas.

The report specifically stated that even infrequent use of MTBE may have played a part in the closure of Santa Monica's groundwater wells.

"Why would we even want to take a chance?" a concerned board member Erin Kenny said at Thursday's meeting. "We should have a public hearing on this."

Kenny submitted a resolution directing the board to adopt a policy dealing with the use of MTBE and whether it should be approved for summer use in Clark County.

A public hearing concerning MTBE-treated gasoline is scheduled for Aug. 27 at the Health District.

Currently other oxygenated fuels are used to reduce emissions during winter months in Clark County.

The Health District already has begun studying MTBE by using MTBE-treated fuel in 30 of its fleet vehicles. The Clark County School District, at Naylor's suggestion, also is using the gasoline in 700 vehicles.

"We are trying to conduct a study on how California fuel works on a daily basis here," said Michael Naylor, director of the Health District's Air Pollution Control Division. "Initial reports from the school district say their vehicles are operating better."

Naylor added that from an air-quality point of view, MTBE gasoline pollutes less. He had no opinion on whether it poisoned the groundwater supply. He said he hoped to have more information at the July 23 board meeting.

MTBE-treated gasoline costs on average from 1 to 5 cents a gallon more than untreated gasoline, depending on the time of year.

The Clark County pilot program started in February and is scheduled to finish in August.

According to an Associated Press report Thursday, U.S. Geological Survey scientists found gasoline treated with MTBE in water samples taken from Lake Tahoe at a depth of 90 feet. The report said MTBE levels of 40 parts per billion were found in a holding basin in Orange County a couple days following a Jet-ski event.

The federal agency has said that MTBE levels should not exceed 20 to 40 parts per billion in the water.