01:00 AM EDT on Friday, July 8, 2005

BY TIMOTHY C. BARMANN
Journal Staff Writer

Governor Carcieri signed a bill on Wednesday that, as of Jan. 1, 2007, bans the sale of gasoline containing MTBE.

The additive has been blamed for contaminating the drinking water of thousands of Burrillville residents in 2001.

The new law bans several gasoline additives, known as oxygenates, that make the fuel burn cleaner.

Although MTBE has cut down on air pollution, it has created other environmental problems -- namely the contamination of ground water.

Methyl tertiary butyl ether, or MTBE, came into wide use after the passage of the federal Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. The laws required refiners to add an oxygenate to gasoline that would make cars emit less pollution.

Refiners chose MTBE, instead of other alternatives, mainly for economic reasons, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA says that reformulated gasoline has been successful in reducing smog-forming pollutants by at least 105,000 tons annually.

But the EPA has also found that MTBE is a possible cause of cancer in humans. Water-pollution problems created by the compound have prompted states around the country to ban its use in gasoline.

In 2001, high levels of MTBE were found in the public water supply for the Pascoag section of Burrillville, leaving some 4,000 residents without clean tap water for four months until a supply was piped in.

The Pascoag ground water supply remains contaminated. The source of the pollution was a leaking underground gasoline tank.

At least 19 other states have banned MTBE, including Connecticut, New York, Maine and New Hampshire.

Many states are switching to another additive, ethanol, to continue meeting the requirements of the Clean Air Act. Ethanol, which is made from corn, is produced mainly in the Midwest.

Previous efforts to ban MTBE in Rhode Island have failed, mainly because of fears that switching to ethanol would push up the cost of gasoline.

With most states in New England eliminating MTBE, a new regional market for gasoline with ethanol is being created, said Matt Auten, a spokesman for the Rhode Island Public Interest Research Group. RIPIRG was among the groups lobbying for the bill's passage.

A big pool of states using non-MTBE gas could lessen or eliminate a price increase associated with the new reformulation of gasoline, Auten said.

The bill was introduced by Rep. Peter Ginaitt, D-Warwick.

Timothy C. Barmann covers energy issues, utilities and technology. He can be reached at tbarmann [at] projo.com