Choosing Oil Companies over the Health of Americans;
A portion of President Bush’s energy plan speaks directly to his loyalty towards oil companies and his willingness to risk the health of Americans in order to shelter them from liability. The plan shields oil companies and manufacturers of the gasoline additive, MTBE by prohibiting the additive to be deemed a defective product. This protection is granted despite growing evidence to the contrary and a determination that MTBE was indeed a “defective product” in recent court cases. The bill would place the financial burden of clean up for water supplies contaminated by MTBE’s – estimated to be as high as $63 billion to date -- on the tax payers of the individual communities affected. Grossly higher costs for water services and/or a tax increases would be unavoidable.
Joining a majority of senators who voted to pass legislation immunizing the oil companies from prosecution in 2003 (or favor-by-payback) were Illinois representatives, Jerry Wheeler and Jerry Costello¹.
Both Wheeler and Costello represent districts that have water supplies contaminated by MTBE’s. Forty-four of the state’s water systems serving 354,000 people have been affected . Within Costello’s district, Village of East Alton is part of a class action suit against the oil companies to cover clean up costs. By voting with the President as he pushes for final approval now, the lawsuits will be thrown out. They (Wheeler and Costello) will effectively betray those who elected them and leave their own communities potentially devastated financially and at risk for ongoing contamination-related illnesses.
In May 2005, the attorneys general of Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, Illinois, Wisconsin, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and California joined forces and sent a letter to all U.S. senators urging them to vote against the federal energy bill, which was passed by the house in April. Sighting over 1,800 water systems in 29 states that are contaminated by MTBE, the chief legal officers wrote, in part, “MTBE manufacturers and refiners should not obtain through lobbying what they cannot obtain under the common law of our respective states.”
An oil refinery by-product, MTBE increases oxygen in the fuel. The fuel burns cleaner, which in turn reduces exhaust pollutants on cars manufactured prior to 1980. Oxalates became popular in the 80’s and by 1990 were used primarily in limited parts of the country in cities with high carbon dioxide pollutants or extreme summer ozone levels. Concerned about the growing market share of ethanol, an oxalate made from corn that’s been used safely and successfully in cities like Chicago for years, oil companies began to expand their use of MTBE’s nationwide with disastrous results.
Furthermore, they found two of the defendants -- Shell and Lyondell (a manufacturer of MTBE) -- guilty of malice; knowingly misrepresenting the safety of the additive and concealing the risks for profit.
Leaked from underground storage tanks, accidental spills, and washed from surface streets by rain into sewer drains, MTBE’s quickly became a contamination nightmare to ground water supplies. The equivalent of 5 drops in an Olympic size swimming pool is enough to render water unfit to drink. Some people experience difficulty breathing if fumes are inhaled while pumping gas, others by simply taking a shower in contaminated municipal water. Known to cause cancer in rats, MTBE is also a suspected carcinogen in humans, but the full extent of negative health effects may not be known for years.
For those who live in areas considered to be MTBE–free zones, a false sense of security looms. Although slow moving, underground water supplies can travel a great distance carrying the additive with it. Therefore, it is a danger that potentially affects everyone, everywhere long after the use of MTBE’s has been discontinued. Ignoring the damage created so far, the President’s plan mandates a delay on the ban of MTBE until the year 2014, giving the oil companies more time and more profits while groundwater contamination continues to spread.
Documents produced in two California lawsuits convinced jurors that Shell Oil and others ignored and/or suppressed internal memos and evidence regarding the harmful effects MTBE dating back as far as 1980.
“It was their own decision to go nationwide with MTBE” says California attorney Vic Sher, who successfully triumphed over oil companies on behalf of the South Tahoe Public Utility District and the City of Santa Monica. “They wanted to dominate the reformulated fuels market over ethanol manufacturers with a refinery by-product that generated little revenue otherwise. To accomplish that, they needed to push the benefits of added oxygen content for cleaner burning fuel, and conceal the known contamination hazards of their by-product.”
Jurors in the landmark South Lake Tahoe case concluded that MTBE was a defective product that could reach underground water supplies, such as wells, quickly with a high risk of contamination. Furthermore, they found two of the defendants -- Shell and Lyondell (a manufacturer of MTBE) -- guilty of malice; knowingly misrepresenting the safety of the additive and concealing the risks for profit. The jury's verdict in South Lake Tahoe led to major settlements both in that case and for the City of Santa Monica, under which the companies agreed to pay nearly a half-billion dollars in damages.
Quick to rescue and defend the oil companies against mounting claims, the President’s bill would prohibit the “defective product” language regarding MTBE, ignoring the evidence and more importantly, eliminating the foundation of the lawsuits on file, which in turn, eliminates the lawsuits altogether.
The bill further provides an outrageous, retroactive safety net for oil companies by prohibiting any law suits filed retroactively to September 2003. This randomly selected date was necessary in order to stop pending suits (including those from the state of Illinois) from going to trial and recovering costly damages.
If the President’s energy bill passes, communities who are seeking justice today and in the future will never see it. Dangerously close to passing soon, your senators must be told now that this bill is a poison you simply won’t swallow. Take control of your country. It belongs to you; not corporations.
Stop the President from creating yet another layer of protection to his long list of special interests groups and corporate friends. Contact your senator now. To locate the email address for your senator, visit: Illinois Gov Directory.
Cliff Horwitz welcomes your comments regarding this article and can be reached by calling (312) 372-8822, or email.