One reason your gas prices are so high

…is that Congress decided not to take action to protect MTBE producers from junk-science lawsuits. So “MTBE makers are leaving the market in a rush,” and now the East Coast is facing shortages. Alas, the Republicans, rather than point out this economic reality, and take steps to solve the problem, have decided to jump on […]

…is that Congress decided not to take action to protect MTBE producers from junk-science lawsuits. So “MTBE makers are leaving the market in a rush,” and now the East Coast is facing shortages. Alas, the Republicans, rather than point out this economic reality, and take steps to solve the problem, have decided to jump on the bogus “price-gouging” populist bandwagon. (Wall Street Journal op-ed, Apr. 25). We noted the problem of plaintiffs’ lawyers suing oil companies for complying with a Congressional environmental mandate back in 2003.

4 Comments

  • Forgive my ignorance, but what is MTBE?

    Thanks đŸ™‚

  • (methyl tertiary-butyl ether)

    The Clean Air Act amendments of 1991 effectively mandated MTBE, which reduces smog-forming pollutants. It’s added to the gasoline for such.

    It’s not such a nice chemical offshoot of the process of refining oil, but it’s there as well as many other very similiar substances. Chemically speaking.

    The enviros forces this legislation, let them pay the cost of the suits! They only have 4 billion $’s a year to play with!

    Let the organizations tha pushed this STUFF on the public be the ones that must answer the bell! Why punish those that were FORCED to abide by the law of the land have to pay?

    “AP/Fox News, Oct. 7. And this morning it is being reported that the energy bill has died for this year in the Senate, in part because of irreconcilable disputes over the MTBE waivers (Dan Morgan, “Senate Energy Bill Dead for This Year”, Washington Post, Nov. 25)”

    Amazing how attorneys can be so…. misguided. The culprit is the Sierra club, the Blue water network and ALL of their spider web of coherts! THOSE should be the target of these lawsuits! The folks that REALLY caused the debacle, not the ones that were FORCED to obey federal mandate by force of law!

    Let the greens explain how the water wells of Malibu got infested with the chemical, how it really got into lakes, and it’s not from motor boats and PWC’s either!

    Attack the REAL source of such junk science results! Take it to the Green movement, which is where this particular fight belongs!

    The entire oxygenated fuel problem sits squarly in the hands of the green goofies! No place else at all.

    On all fronts our environment is cleaner and cleaner and greener. But not according to the Goofies! All is still lost! Well they have managed to kill much ow what little common sense exists in mankind, so maybe it is lost. But in a different sense.

    Get the Green goofies, those that live in a tax free world of 501c3’s off of your tax dollars and coheresed donations!

    Take that money and give it back to who? More attorneys? The people that are damaged will always be damaged and NEVER see a dime, but for sure the attorneys will get theirs, won’t they?

  • MTBE is a typical consequence of political regulations that ignore science. The political idea was to add some oxygenated compound to gasoline to change its burning characteristics. But the chemistry of oxygenated compounds insures that they have greater solubility in water than most hydrocarbons and will inevitably wind up in the water table. Apparently this consequence was never considered by anyone before the legislation was enacted. MTBE’s pretty nasty as a trace constituent of water; perhaps ethyl alcohol isn’t so bad.