MTBE Gas Pumps to Be Labeled Until Phaseout
Starting this fall, most California drivers will see something new at their local filling stations: labels identifying the pumps that contain gasoline with the antipollution additive MTBE.
The Air Resources Board approved the new plan Thursday as part of Gov. Gray Davis’ order to phase out the controversial compound by 2002.
“Initially, the vast majority of service stations will almost certainly have to post these labels, but we think during the three-year period there should be an increasing amount of non-MTBE gas available,” said board spokesman Allan Hirsch.
MTBE, or methyl tertiary butyl ether, is added to gasoline to make it burn more completely and reduce air emissions. The compound, long viewed as potentially hazardous by environmentalists, was added to fuels in the 1980s in relatively small amounts, but was later increased because of federal air quality rules.
Environmentalists and some scientists believe MTBE is leaching into water tables and contaminating wells and other water sources. The petroleum industry has said the potential health hazards of MTBE have not been determined.
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