Methyl tertiary butyl ether, MTBE, the environmentalist gurus told us, would lead to cleaner air. So they managed to hoodwink the Ca. legislature to force the oil companies to add MTBE to gasoline. Fine. That was 5 or 6 years ago.
Now we discover that MTBE actually increases pollution. Yup, turns out that MTBE leaches out of fiberglass storage tanks and eventually seeps into the water table. Turns out to that this stuff can't be gotten rid of once it's in the water. Turns out that MTBE causes cancerous tumors in mice and rats and is believed to be a carcinogen in humans.
Turns out that 43 tons of the chemical enters Californias air daily from vehicle exhaust fumes.
Thousands of gallons of MTBE are leaking from underground gas storage tanks, threatining the nation's water supply. (0ooops, already said that, so sorry...)
Studies show that California's reformulated gas can be just as effective at reducing pollutants w/o MTBE as with it.
Question; when environmentalists goof, does anyone take note?
