Speaker Seeks Probe of MTBE Discharge Into Coastal Waters

Adding a new wrinkle to the contentious debate over the safety of MTBE, Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa on Tuesday called for a state investigation into the health effects of dumping hundreds of pounds a day of the gasoline additive into Santa Monica Bay and other coastal waters.

The Los Angeles Democrat assailed the Wilson administration for having ignored marine discharges of MTBE, although state water quality officials were aware that drinking water wells in Santa Monica and elsewhere were fouled with the additive and had to be closed.

“Despite knowing this was a problem since 1995 . . . there was never an investigation into how the dumping might impact the marine environment,” Villaraigosa told reporters.

The speaker’s call for action comes just days before Gov. Gray Davis must decide whether MTBE in drinking water poses a health risk and should be phased out.

Villaraigosa joins a growing chorus of critics who fault MTBE, including a group of University of California scientists who recently concluded that the additive does little to clean the air and should be phased out.

In a letter to Winston Hickox, state Environmental Protection Agency secretary, Villaraigosa said state water quality officials failed to regulate MTBE discharges into coastal waters, including Santa Monica and San Francisco bays.

“Given the pervasive nature of this chemical and its solubility in water, I request that you investigate this potentially dangerous legacy of the Wilson administration,” Villaraigosa wrote. “I want to ascertain the public health risks and environmental impacts associated with the discharge of these unregulated amounts of MTBE into the marine environment.”

MTBE reaches coastal waters from refineries, other waterways, sewage treatment plants and storm drains.

Villaraigosa also expressed concern that water quality officials have refused to divulge which MTBE-contaminated sites on land pose a threat to drinking water supplies.

James Spagnole, the state EPA’s director of communications, voiced confidence that Hickox “will respond positively to any request [Villaraigosa] makes. That’s good government.”

Spagnole cautioned that although the discharges into Santa Monica Bay are unacceptable, they are relatively small compared to the millions of gallons of water released into the bay from sewage treatment facilities.

Peter Rooney, state EPA secretary under Wilson, said that the previous administration had responded to the overall issue of MTBE but that he was unaware of any controversy over releases into coastal waters.

MTBE has been used to produce cleaner-burning gasoline since 1995. Oil companies began adding it to gasoline as part of an effort to reduce smog and comply with strict federal clean air standards.

Since then, MTBE has emerged as a menace to drinking water, seeping into aquifers from leaking underground storage tanks. Wells containing the chemical have been shut down in Santa Monica, South Lake Tahoe, Sacramento and Santa Clara, among other areas.

MTBE’s effects on human health are poorly understood, but it appears to cause cancer and birth defects in laboratory animals.

Legislation passed in 1997 requires Davis to determine whether MTBE is a hazard to humans or the environment. If he concludes that a risk exists, he must act to protect the public.

Davis told The Times on Monday that he was still being briefed on MTBE and would announce his decision by Friday.

Calling the issue “very complicated,” Davis indicated that he is wary of abruptly abandoning MTBE without a viable alternative.

“I’m . . . mindful that you can leap from one problem into another problem unless you make a transition--if that’s the course I take--from MTBE to a substitute,” Davis said. “We got in this mess in part because the scientific community thought MTBE was a good oxygenate and didn’t realize its potential problems for ground water.”

Davis added that ethanol is the only other oxygenate immediately available, but said a limited supply could create problems for California.