INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana State Senate Bill 381 and House Bill 1338, which won committee approval this week, would phase out the use of MTBE (methyl tertiary-butyl ether) in gasoline by July 23, 2004, says a report in The Indianapolis Star. The legislation would require that gasoline sold or used in Indiana contain no more than 0.5 percent of MTBE.
Federal law requires designated urban areas to use petroleum-based MTBE or corn-produced ethanol as oxygenates to improve air quality. Two northwest Indiana counties--Lake and Porter--have been selling this reformulated fuel since 1995, the report says.
Concerns about MTBE contaminating water supplies and its possible cancer-causing potential have prompted 16 states to either ban or consider banning the oxygenate. California has banned MTBE in gasoline by the end of 2002. Illinois lawmakers voted last year to stop using MTBE by mid-2004.
Rey Barreto, a Purdue University professor who has studied MTBE’s effects, questions how effective this legislation would be. He believes that even 0.5 percent of MTBE in gasoline can contaminate water supplies. He argues that there is no way to keep the additive out of gasoline because Indiana shares storage tanks and pipelines with Kentucky and Michigan. Neither of those states limits its use. "Trying to fix it at the state level is impossible," Barreto told the newspaper. "It has to be addressed at the national level, or you’re just kidding yourself."
Environmental groups, petroleum companies and corn growers support the legislation. There are more than 30,000 corn growers in Indiana, says the report. One of the chief sponsors of the Senate bill is Sen. Robert Jackman (R), who said he is confident that increased demand for corn will raise crop values, which will help farmers in his central Indiana district. "I thinks its effect on agriculture would be absolutely phenomenal," said Jackman, who rents land that he owns to corn farmers.
"It’s one of those rare and very encouraging situations where we can do something environmentally friendly and support our Indiana economy," added Sen. Brandt Hershman (R).
Most experts agree that increasing the use of ethanol wouldn’t affect the price at the pump in Indiana, although some believe that if the price of corn increases, gasoline prices could rise in states outside the corn-abundant Midwest.
