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State tracks gas-tainted groundwater By Paul Fattig Ric Holt doesn�t relish saying I-told-you-so to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. But the Jackson County commissioner, who has talked to anyone who would listen in recent years about the environmental threat of gasoline additives, says the fact that high levels of methyl tertiary butyl ether continues to be found in groundwater around the Northwest proves his concerns were well founded. The additive is known as MTBE. "I did tell them," he said. "I even wrote John Kitzhaber, first in his capacity as a doctor, then as (Oregon) governor. But the governor got some ill advice from the DEQ that there was nothing to worry about." Following groundwater testing, officials in Washington state now estimate that MTBE-contaminated groundwater could be present in 800 locations where tanks have leaked gasoline into groundwater there. Early this year, the DEQ, which began testing groundwater near leaking underground fuel tanks before its counterpart in Washington, found that nearly half � 48 percent � of 64 leaking gasoline storage tanks throughout the state had contaminated nearby groundwater with MTBE. However, no significant amounts of MTBE were found in the Medford area, according to Merlyn Hough, a tank cleanup manager with the DEQ. "But any time you get any gasoline at all in groundwater, that�s not a good thing," he said. "We�re looking at it very carefully." Oregon has cleaned up 3,500 of 6,250 leaking underground storage tanks, Hough said. In 1998, Oregon set cleanup limits and required all newly discovered leaking underground storage tanks to be tested for MTBE. Last month, the state began screening 53 public drinking water systems for MTBE, including wells in Portland, Milwaukie, Sherwood and Troutdale. Washington officials plan similar tests. MTBE and ethanol � grain alcohol � are chemical additives typically used to create oxygenated gasoline used to reduce air pollution from carbon monoxide emissions. Although MTBE has been used in California, only ethanol is used in Southern Oregon during the winter months. Starting this year, Grants Pass stations will not be pumping oxygenated fuel because of improved traffic conditions in recent years, according to the DEQ. But oxy fuel still will be used in Medford and Klamath Falls this winter, officials said. Holt believes both additives are bad news for vehicles as well as humans. Both are carcinogenic to humans, cause engine problems and do little to reduce emissions, he said. "They are known to kill plant life � the whole thing has been a catastrophe," he said. "The 1000 Friends of Oregon and the Sierra Club, those environmental groups should be taking a leadership role in this." California was the first state to ban use of the additive-infused fuels after studies in the mid-1990s found MTBE outside 70 percent of the state�s leaking gas tanks. Some levels of MTBE recorded were at 1,000 times what federal officials consider to be safe. MTBE smells like turpentine, and spreads in water more quickly than other gasoline ingredients. Studies on rats suggest that small amounts in water can harm the kidneys, liver and nervous system. Larger amounts cause cancer in lab animals. In March, the EPA announced that it would ban the additive in three years. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.