Last month, the United States Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held an Oversight Hearing on the Impact of the Elimination of MTBE. The hearing focused on concerns raised in a report by the Energy Information Agency titled Eliminating MTBE in Gasoline in 2006 regarding shortages that could occur as refiners switch from MTBE to ethanol. A senior Minority member at the hearing flatly stated, “I do not believe that the elimination of MTBE will have a significant impact on the gasoline market.”  

FACT: As widely reported today, the elimination of MTBE is causing significant disruptions in several cities across the country today. Reuters reports in an article, Gasoline supply problems hit U.S. East Coast, that consumers are now facing the consequences of the shift from MTBE to ethanol. The article states:  

The Energy Department has reported shortages at terminals near Richmond, Virginia, as well as the Tidewater area near Chesapeake Bay and Virginia Beach which distribute gasoline to service stations.

Some gasoline distribution terminals from Virginia to Massachusetts are seeing shortages as the industry phases out a water-polluting additive, the U.S. Energy Department said on Thursday.

It is critical for the nation to increase its petroleum and bio-refinery capacity. Chairman Inhofe’s legislation – the Gas PRICE Act and Energy Price Reduction Act amendment to the LIHEAP bill – would have assisted with the transition away from MTBE. The legislation would have expedited the permitting process for traditional as well as renewable fuel infrastructure so that regions of the country would not have to face the temporary supply shortfalls and corresponding price increases now affecting motorists.  

Unfortunately for consumers at the pump today, Senate Democrats succeeded in stalling the Gas PRICE Act in Committee and objected to the LIHEAP amendment. Undoubtedly, next time consumers go to the voting booth they will remember who in the Senate kept them from filling-up today and who continues to obstruct legislation that provides real solutions.

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