Washington, DC - The Energy Conference Report, which will come before the House and the Senate for approval later this week, contains a provision which gives producers of MTBE, an oxygenate which contaminates water supply and is a suspected carcinogen, protection from lawsuits alleging that the chemical is a defective product. The following is a statement from Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) in opposition to this provision:

"I would like to thank my colleague, Senator Boxer, for her leadership in opposing the energy conference report.

This bill falls short in so many ways - It does nothing to improve our nation's energy security by increasing fuel economy standards, does not address the threat from global climate change, and does not close loopholes in the law, which allowed energy companies to manipulate and game California's energy market.

In fact, this conference report was drafted behind closed doors by Republicans, without any input from Democratic conferees. Simply put, this bill is a giveaway to special interests.

MTBE

The treatment of MTBE, an oxygenate which contaminates water supply and is a suspected carcinogen , identifies the thrust of the bill: it gives incentives to those who pollute and no incentives to those that do not.

First, the bill does not ban MTBE nationwide.

Additionally, it gives MTBE producers $2 billion in transition assistance to transition out of a product they are allowed to continue to make-especially for exports.

Third, the bill provides MTBE producers with liability protection-despite the fact that the Courts have already found that they make a "defective product."

And worse yet, the liability protection is retroactive to September 5, 2003-nullifying $1.2 billion in lawsuits in California alone.

It is outrageous, in my view, that this conference report does not address the threat from MTBE.

California and MTBE

In 1999, my state of California recognized that the only way to prevent further contamination of water supplies was to ban MTBE. And that ban will go into effect on January 1, 2004.

California has a significant problem with water contamination from MTBE.

Over 15,000 sites are contaminated in California.

One cup of MTBE, the amount found in one gallon of reformulated gasoline, can contaminate an entire 5 million gallon well to the point of rendering the water in the well undrinkable.

The provision included in the conference report will nullify the 19 suits Californians have filed since September 5 against MTBE producers.

It will mean that MTBE producers will not have to pay the $1.2 billion in clean-up costs for those contaminated sites. And that is just in California. Nationwide, this means that over 130 lawsuits will be invalidated, leaving taxpayers with an $8 billion bill in clean-up costs.

Taxpayers will not only have to foot the bill for transition assistance to MTBE producers who will continue to make their defective product, they will also have to pay to clean up for the mess that MTBE producers left them.

This is just one of the reasons why I oppose this energy bill."

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