Background
- Methyl tertiary-Butyl Ether (MTBE) is a volatile organic chemical (VOC). MTBE is a fuel additive (oxygenate) which allows States to reach the minimum fuel-oxygen requirement specified by the Clean Air Act of 1990. MTBE is designed to reduce the production of carbon monoxide, smog and other ozone depleting chemicals by increasing the burning efficiency of gasoline.
Current Status of MTBE
- As of 1998, 20 states are required to participate in the Environmental Protection Agency's Reformulated Gasoline (RFG) Program which requires the use of oxygenates in gasoline in areas with the worst ozone or smog problems. Some additional areas use "oxyfuel," which also contains oxygenates.
- MTBE is used in 84% of reformulated gasoline. RFG accounts for over 33% of gasoline nationwide. Nearly 40% of U.S fuel, as RFG or Oxyfuel, contains MTBE. All 50 states have lower levels of MTBE, as an octane-enhancer, in their premium fuel.
- Over 40% of the U.S. population currently live in areas where MTBE is used. At current rates, this figure could be as high as 80% within a few years. The Oxygenated Fuels Association predicts that oxygenates will be added to over 70% of US fuels by 2000.
Why should US residents be concerned with MTBE?
- As of 1998, MTBE contamination has closed down drinking water supplies in California (where some aquifers reported a level of 260,000 ppb - roughly 18,571 times CA guidance for the chemical), New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Maine, and Rhode Island. MTBE was the second most frequently detected VOC (of 60) by the United States Geological Survey's National Ground Drinking Water Quality Assessment Program. Undiscovered MTBE contamination most likely exists in other States.
- The EPA has classified MTBE as a "possible" human carcinogen. MTBE is on the "contaminant candidate list," as well as EPA's Drinking Water Priority List for future regulation.
- Few studies have been conducted regarding human ingestion of MTBE in drinking water. However, the confirmed major human metabolites of MTBE are tertiary butyl-alcohol (TBA) and formaldehyde - "probable" human carcinogens, and confirmed immune system suppressants. TBA is listed as "harmful or fatal if swallowed" by the EPA.
- Scientists have found MTBE to cause cancer in laboratory animals in identical doses as benzene, a known human carcinogen.
- Reported side effects from inhalation include: headaches, dizziness, irritated eyes, burning of the nose and throat, coughing, disorientation, and nausea. In the air, MTBE reacts with hydroxyl (an airborne compound of hydrogen and oxygen) to form tertiary Butyl-Formate (TBF), an extremely destructive compound to tissues of mucous membranes and the upper respiratory tract.
- Many scientists believe that MTBE has caused the dramatic increase in asthma and respiratory problems. Health complaints related to MTBE in the air have been reported in Alaska, Montana, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, California, North Carolina, and other States.
- As of October, 1998, the California Department of Health's proposed secondary health standard for MTBE in drinking water is 5 parts per billion (ppb). In 1999, UC-Davis warned that to protect all drinking water consumers from cancer risk, MTBE concentrations should not exceed 5 ppb. No technology is currently available to detect or prevent such low levels of MTBE contamination. Stricter control of underground storage tanks and two-stroke engines cannot prevent this level of contamination. Various state Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report MTBE levels in human blood, where MTBE is used in fuel, ranging from less than .05 ppb to 37 ppb in residents tested.
Why is the Bluewater Network concerned about MTBE and recreational boating?
- Marine engines are one of the largest unchecked sources of toxic water pollution nationwide. Recreational boating and jetskis account for 1.1 billion pounds of petro-chemical pollution (containing MTBE) annually. This is equivalent to 15 Exxon Valdez spills.
- EPA's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) for 1996 indicates that the total annual industrial release of MTBE in the US was 3.4 million pounds (3.1 million pounds into the air; only 100,000 pounds to surface water). However, EPA's TRI does not account for two-stroke emissions. The Bluewater Network estimates that two-strokes account for more than 8 million pounds of MTBE annually. This figure exceeds the EPA total for all sources combined, and increases the annual MTBE release into surface (and drinking) water exponentially.
- Roughly half of all watercraft, and 100% of personal watercraft (PWC), are powered by two-stroke marine engines. Two-strokes emit 25-30% of their fuel, unburned, directly into the water. PWC engines can dump 6 gallons of raw fuel into a reservoir in two hours - or the equivalent hydrocarbon emissions of driving a '98 passenger car for two years.
- MTBE contamination of groundwater is widely publicized. However, drinking water regulators are overlooking two-stroke MTBE contamination of surface drinking water. Forty-five (45) states permit recreational boating and PWC use on drinking water lakes, rivers and reservoirs nationwide. In 1997, only twelve (12) states were extensively monitoring surface water samples for MTBE.
- No water district currently treats drinking water for MTBE.
- MTBE is much less degradable, more mobile, and 50 times more soluble in water than other gasoline toxins. As a result, the chemical leaches from the surface "slicks" normally associated with boating, directly into all levels of the aquifer
- MTBE resists absorption into non-aquatic elements of the aquifer, and is impervious to current treatment. MTBE is being found at the tap
Why should water suppliers be concerned with MTBE and two-stroke engines?
- ACWA reports that 14 out of 15 reservoirs which permit motorized recreation, contained significant levels of MTBE. None of the 8 reservoirs prohibiting motorized recreation, contained significant levels of the compound.
- In 1998, California Department of Health Services issued a secondary drinking water standard at 5 parts per billion (ppb), or 5 ug/l. Although the US EPA has established a draft "taste and odor threshold" for drinking water at 20-40 micrograms per liter (ug/l), the Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) reports that some consumers can detect MTBE at levels as low as 2 ppb (2 ug/L). According to polls, MTBE smells like turpentine.
- Less than one-tenth of a gallon of MTBE (a soda can) contaminates 13 million gallons of drinking water, the amount consumed daily by a population of 90,000, with 5 ppb of MTBE. Bluewater estimates that more than 1 million gallons of MTBE are dumped annually by two-strokes.
- A single jetski can dump up to 6 gallons of raw fuel into the water in two hours. At this rate, a single jetski dumps one-tenth of a gallons (a soda can) of MTBE into the water in two hours.
- MTBE is more mobile, less degradable, and can exist in higher concentrations in water in comparison to the hydrocarbons present in conventional gasoline. Normal degradation processes do not significantly alter MTBE concentrations. MTBE has been found at all levels of some aquifers due to high solubility. Deep intake valves are susceptible to MTBE.
- No drinking water plant in the United States is currently designed to treat drinking water for MTBE. Traditional methods used for other hydrocarbon contamination are not effective.
Some Final Points
- A 1997 report by scientists from the University of California-Davis indicates a July 4th MTBE "spike" of 815 pounds on a small lake near Lake Tahoe called Donner Lake. MTBE levels in Donner Lake increased 1800% as a result of the summer boating season. Thousands of gallons of raw fuel, almost a tanker-truck worth, and over a hundred gallons of MTBE, spilled into the lake during the holiday weekend alone. Donner Lake is used for drinking water.
- MTBE contamination is a growing problem. As production of the chemical increases, MTBE continues to leak into drinking water from underground fuel tanks, pipelines and recreational craft. In addition, fiberglass underground storage tanks (UST's) installed in the 1980's may be degenerating as a direct result of ethanol and methanol. Owens-Corning, a manufacturer of UST's, issued an advisory in 1995 recommending that reformulated gasoline NOT be stored in these tanks.
- Studies are beginning to investigate what happens to MTBE after combustion. As a volatile organic compound (VOC), MTBE reacts with NOx and sunlight to form tertiary Butyl-formate (TBF) and formaldehyde - both of which cause cancer and respiratory tract problems.
- Scientists nationwide believe that MTBE's effect on smog and ozone-depleting chemicals is NEGLIGIBLE compared to the risks associated with its use. A San Francisco-based environmental group, Communities for a Better Environment, filed suit against eight major oil companies for using MTBE in gasoline. The group charged that the companies knew of the dangers of MTBE in the air, and especially water, but used the oxygenate anyway.
- The EPA health report on MTBE reads: "Human health effects associated with breathing or otherwise consuming … large amounts of MTBE for short periods of time … [or] smaller amounts of MTBE over long periods of time … are not known."
- Laboratory animals injected with large amounts of MTBE show the following effects: convulsions, unconsciousness, and other central nervous system dysfunction. Animals exposed to small amounts of MTBE show the following effects: kidney damage and other adverse effects on the developing fetus. The EPA acknowledges that studies indicate that in many animals "a lifetime exposure to MTBE in air causes cancer." Studies regarding MTBE in water have not been completed.
Copyright © 1998-2000, Bluewater Network
See also:
Is There Gas in Your Glass? -- the true scope of the MTBE problem:
http://www.earthisland.org/eijournal/fall98/eia_fall98bluewater.html
MTBE Leaks Are A Ticking Bomb: Gas additive taints water nationwide -- San Francisco Chronicle:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1998/12/14/MN18353.DTL
GAO warns MTBE fuel leaks in water more widespread -- Washington, May 22, 2002: Contamination of water supplies by MTBE is more widespread in local communities than previously thought, because the gasoline fuel additive has leaked from pipelines across the United States, the General Accounting Office warned Congress.
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/16070/story.htm
The MTBE Cover-Up -- "the oil industry knew about MTBE threats to drinking water before the controversial gasoline additive was introduced in California":
http://www.carbohydrateeconomy.org/ceic/news/news.cfm?news_id=61
Big Oil's MTBE Cover-Up -- "By 1991 the industry was using more than 100,000 barrels of MTBE per day in reformulated gasoline. Yet secret oil company studies, conducted at least as early as 1980, showed the industry knew that MTBE contaminated ground water virtually everywhere it was used."
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=14274
MTBE: What The Oil Companies Knew And When They Knew It -- Election-Year Deal in Congress Would Shield Industry From Lawsuits for Water Contamination -- Internal Industry Documents Are Rewriting The MTBE Pollution Story -- EWG's report "MTBE With Knowledge"
http://www.ewg.org/reports/withknowledge/
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