I’m kind of surprised that this wire story hasn’t gotten more play around the net:
States no longer will have to add corn-based ethanol or MTBE to gasoline to fight pollution ” a requirement that costs as much as 8 cents a gallon ” under rules announced Wednesday by the Environmental Protection Agency.[...]
California, New York and Connecticut unsuccessfully had asked the EPA for a waiver of the requirement because the states had banned MTBE after finding it polluted the groundwater.
The states were forced to use ethanol, which they contend worsened pollution problems. [...]The rules will take effect nationwide on May 6 and in California 60 days after their publication in the federal register, which should happen within the next three months, said EPA spokesman John Millett.
With luck, this will mean that MTBE will (finally) go away. While I’m all for looking for simple, effective ways to clean up the air, I have thought the wild array of gas formulations required around the country was kind of silly, and somewhat inefficient.
However, I am concerned that this is a sign of federal indifference towards air quality issues, a stance that wouldn’t be surprising given other positions the government has taken in the past 5 years.