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December 6, 2009

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Three oil companies responsible for polluting Lake Tahoe groundwater

Tuesday, April 16, 2002 | 9:58 a.m.

Shell Oil, Lyondell Chemical Co., which was formerly Arco, and Tosco Corp. were found responsible for pollution. The San Francisco Superior Court jury found Monday that MTBE is a defective product and that Shell and Lyondell withheld information about the chemical.

Damages will be assessed in a separate phase of the trial.

The South Tahoe Public Utility District sued the oil companies in 1998 after MTBE pollution forced it to close a third of its drinking water wells.

Water district lawyers used papers during the trial that they said showed the companies knew that MTBE could move far and quickly through water and that it could be tasted and smelled at very low concentrations.

MTBE has been used as an oxygenate in gasoline to help certain regions reach clean air standards.

The south Tahoe area has shallow wells, many in the vicinity of gas station storage tanks, and quickly moving groundwater near the surface that contributed to the chemical reaching drinking water wells.

The cost to remove MTBE from the water supply is around $45 million.

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