Posted on 03/15/2002 5:22:36 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Still, the addition of oxygenate (whether MTBE, methanol, ethanol, or some other compound) has been shown to reduce ozone and photochemical smog, even though MTBE has other problems (formaldahyde, vapor emissions, carburetor fires, and the like). The point is, a free market would allow people to buy some form of RFG if they want it and could ALSO make roll the total benefits and costs of different constituents into price of that decision. It can also be done objectively. If the residents of that area want cleaner air, they should be allowed to pay for it. A single gasoline spec for the nation prevents anyone from competitively benefitting by inventing improvements at lower cost. Why not?
Wow!
Its really a shame we spent billions to rid gasoline of lead, only to have MTBE put in its place.
You bet. We really don't need MTBE or Ethanol.
The carcinogenicity of MTBE is still in question; the one Italian study that has so far obtained significant results has not been repeated. It's persistence in tissue and groundwater is not in question. Either way, it was a poor selection and in my judgment possibly corrupt. It may have even been a deliberate attempt to grab control of private water wells. To protect the children, you know.
The activities of another bloated State bureaucracy, the State Water Quality Control Board (SWQCB), have guaranteed that the big oil companies would have a monopoly in California and that prices would soar because it, SWQCB, systematically wiped out & bankrupted most of the small service stations in California by claiming that leaking underground fuel tanks were contaminating our water supplies and that this threat justified any amount of expense. However, scientists at the University of California in a published report recently confirmed that not even one percent of this purported threat to ground water ever existed.
From www.pushback.com/
I'll probably listen tomorrow nite on his regular program .
Lets see....they probably want $100.00 dollars per gallon, but will settle with $2.00 to $3.00
"...In some cases this requirement is met through the use of MTBE. While the use of MTBE as a fuel additive in gasoline has helped to reduce harmful air emissions, it has also caused widespread and serious contamination of the nation's drinking water supplies. Unlike other components of gasoline, MTBE dissolves and spreads readily in the groundwater underlying a spill site, resists biodegradation, and is difficult and costly to remove from groundwater. Low levels of MTBE can render drinking water supplies unpotable due to its offensive taste and odor. At higher levels, it may also pose a risk to human health. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has found that the occurrence of MTBE in groundwater is strongly related to its use as a fuel additive in the area, finding detections of MTBE in 21% of ambient groundwater tested in areas where MTBE is used in RFG compared with 2% of ambient groundwater in areas using conventional gasoline. EPA is today providing an advance notice of its intent to initiate a rulemaking pursuant to section 6 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to eliminate or limit the use of MTBE as a fuel additive. EPA seeks public comment on a number of aspects of this anticipated regulatory action, including whether the Agency should take action to address any fuel additives other than MTBE."
The EPA is responsible for this poison now in much of the nation's water from east to west, north and south. The all powerful EPA rammed this down the collective and gullible congressional throats, who once again accepted bad science for votes. Ethanol is only slightly less harmful but then ADM gives mightily to both parties.
Well, this is just a coincidence, but it may be an interesting one.
"MTBE" is a famous programmer acronym for "mean-time-between-errors" used to track how often hardware or software malfunctions...
Mark W.
You have to remember that Wattenberg has always been a leftist, and his reason for entering the fray back in '96 was only to attack the oil companies. - That's why they love him on KGO.
Have to disagree with you there. Wattenberg was the only KGO host to support Bush over gore (tho I must admit, I can only get KGO at nite).
He also supports nuclear power, hardly a leftist position.
I don't think I do, although I wouldn't call him a leftist per se. He does support government control of education, because he enjoys the priviledges he thinks are due the university professorate. He did very well by that public education and therefore thinks it is a fine institution. He doubles his estimate of himself by coupling his academic credentials with his obvious practical knowledge, which is indeed too rare among academics. He touts his ideas as if he were the only guy on the planet so endowed, but you know, they are usually (not always) technically sound ideas.
He is a typical liberal in that he doesn't connect the injustices he sees with the consequences of policies he advocates, believing that nothing he advocates could possibly be wrong and that if there is a problem it because it was caused by people who aren't as smart as him. He doesn't understand that many of those problems are endemic to the management system he prefers. That blindness coupled with his practical ability and congenial condescension makes him a perfect spokesman for socialist elitism.
In his defense, he does do a great service pointing out scientific frauds. He also has the guts to admit it when he is wrong. It's not all bad.
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