Editorial: Additive in gasoline stirs a fear

Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2000 | 9:50 a.m.

It is now obvious that when the federal government required oxygenated fuels to be used to curtail pollution in some cities, including Las Vegas, it didn't do enough research to ensure that these gasoline additives were safe. For instance, scientists now believe that the additive methyl tertiary butyl ether -- commonly known as MTBE -- actually is harmful if it leaks from underground gasoline tanks and gets into the water supply. There has been concern that exposure to MTBE could cause cancer, because some studies have shown the additive can produce liver and kidney tumors in mice.

The 56,000-member American Water Works Association is calling on the Clinton administration to immediately address the cleanup of MTBE contamination and ways to prevent it in the future. "MTBE contamination presents a real and growing threat to the quality of our drinking water resources and public health," Jack Hoffbuhr, executive director of the American Water Works Association, said Monday. The association of water users, which includes the Southern Nevada Water Authority and the Las Vegas Valley Water District, is right to be concerned.

Nevada is no stranger to this issue. The U.S. Geological Survey found MTBE in ground water in both Las Vegas and Reno. Subsequently, Nevada environmental officials in 1998 tested fuel tanks at 180 service stations, discovering that almost 40 percent had some levels of MTBE traveling underground from them. But as the Sun's Mary Manning reported Tuesday, the use of this controversial additive in Southern Nevada has dropped significantly: MTBE is no longer used in the winter and its summer use accounts for about 1 percent of all oxygenated fuel. Still, for a lengthy period -- from 1988 to 1995 -- MTBE was in widespread use here. For the most part, the drinking water in this area appears to be safe. While MTBE has been discovered in Southern Nevada at depths of up to 30 feet, the area's drinking water that is taken from public wells is from 250 feet to 2,000 f eet below the surface, putting it out of the reach of contamination. But private wells could be in jeopardy because, as Manning noted, they aren't as deep and aren't inspected as much as public wells.

MTBE does make the air cleaner, but the trade-off of a polluted water supply is unacceptable. In July a blue-ribbon panel appointed by EPA Administrator Carol Browner recommended that the agency take steps to strengthen existing programs to reduce the possibility of MTBE getting into water supplies. It is time for the federal government to go back to the drawing board and consider suspending the use of this additive. Meanwhile, it is going to be extremely expensive to clean up this mess, removing the contamination from the land and ground water. It is estimated that the total cleanup bill could reach as high as $1 billion. In one of the worst cases, costs to remedy the situation in Santa Monica, Calif., could total $150 million. The bottom line is that this is a problem of the federal government's making and it should take all reasonable steps to ensure th at not only are these additives safe, but also that Washington pays the costs to make these cities' water supplies safe again.