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NJ Utilities Sue Oil Companies For Millions In MTBE Cleanup Costs

Rubatex Msds Utilities throughout the state are demanding that oil companies pay the staggering costs to purge MTBE, a gasoline additive, from drinking water sources.

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Rubatex Neoprene The 17 utilities may need to spend tens to hundreds of millions of dollars to cleanse groundwater, said their lawyer, Joseph J. McGovern.

The majority of facilities management companies are being affected by mounting utility bill costs, according to a new study.

Rubatex Pipe Their lawsuit charges that the oil companies have known since at least 1980 that MTBE would cause massive groundwater contamination. It names about three dozen defendants, which McGovern described as every domestic gasoline distributor and an MTBE maker.

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Rubatex Pipe Insulation The petroleum industry increased its use of MTBE because it is a cheap way to increase octane, not for the claimed reason of air pollution reduction, the lawsuit asserted. A refiners group countered that Congress effectively required increased use.

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Rubatex 180 The New Jersey utilities are among the latest to enter the controversy over MTBE.

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Rubatex 180 Fs Similar lawsuits over MTBE are pending in New Hampshire, New York, Vermont and Virginia. Bans are to take effect in 17 states, with the first coming on Jan. 1 in California, Connecticut and New York.

Rubatex 1800 Lawmakers in Washington last month abandoned efforts to pass energy legislation this year, in part because of opposition to a provision that would have protected MTBE producers from such lawsuits.

Rubatex 320 Nearly every state has found at least traces of MTBE, which stands for methyl tertiary-butyl ether. It has the potential of becoming a cleanup problem in at least 28 states, according to government and private studies.

Rubatex 373 In New Jersey, the state is monitoring the private cleanup of about 3,000 contamination sites, most resulting from leaky underground fuel tanks, said Fred Mumford, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection. Mumford said small traces of MTBE had been found in 187 community water systems since 1999, though only once in levels exceeding drinking water standards.

Rubatex Rubber Nationally, local officials and water managers have estimated the cleanup cost at up to $29 billion.

Rubatex Tape The lawsuit by the New Jersey utilities was initially filed in October in state Superior Court in New Brunswick. The oil companies had it transferred to U.S. District Court in Newark, where McGovern on Tuesday filed an amended version of the lawsuit. He is seeking to have it returned to state court.

Rubatex Closing Speaking for the defendants, Bob Slaughter, president of the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association, said the EPA and Congress knew that MTBE would be utilized when Congress in 1990 required that lower-polluting, or reformulated, gasoline be sold in the 10 most polluted urban areas.

Rubatex Closed Cell Gasketing "It was not practical to use any other oxygenate at the time," Slaughter said. MTBE, and other oxygenates, help fuel burn more cleanly.

Felpro Gaskets Supplies of a commonly mentioned alternative, ethanol, are insufficient, he said. Among its drawbacks is that it can't be transported in pipelines with finished gasoline, he added.

Poly Products Supplies He said the pending energy bill offers $800 million in MTBE cleanup funds, and that the liability shield was justified because MTBE was essentially mandated by Congress.

Poly Hunting Feeders The American Petroleum Institute, an oil company trade association, was not sued and declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Shoreline 13171 17 Neoprene However, API supports the MTBE phaseout recommended by a blue-ribbon panel of the Environmental Protection Agency, said John Maxwell, associate director of API's state subsidiary, the New Jersey Petroleum Council.

Neoprene Pads The New Jersey utility lawsuit said the oil companies are liable for failing to warn the public of a defective product, creating a nuisance, and for violating the state Spill Compensation and Control Act.

By Jeffrey Gold
Associated Press - 12/23/2003

Topic: Toxics

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