WATER ASSOCIATIONS OPPOSE PRODUCT LIABILITY IMMUNITY

Date: 030514
From: http://ens-news.com/

DRINKING WATER ASSOCIATIONS OPPOSE PRODUCT LIABILITY IMMUNITY

AmeriScan, May 14, 2003

 Washington, DC - Two national drinking water associations highlighted
their opposition to provisions in House and Senate energy legislation,
which the groups say provide product liability immunity to producers
of the fuel additives methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) and ethanol.

 The House energy bill contains both provisions - the Senate version
only contains the ethanol product liability immunity.

 Representatives of the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies
(AMWA) and the American Water Works Association (AWWA), which together
represent water systems serving approximately 180 million Americans,
warn that these provisions would be harmful to public health if
enacted.

 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers MTBE a
possible human carcinogen and it is known that it renders water
undrinkable due to its foul taste and odor of paint thinner. AMWA and
AWWA say that drinking water systems and their customers potentially
face billions of dollars in costs to cleanup contaminated supplies and
secure new sources of water to replace shutdown wells.

 If the MTBE liability immunity provisions are enacted, "producers
will have little incentive to clean up contaminated water supplies or
cover water systems' costs for cleanup and/or acquisition of new
sources of water, such as new pipelines and wells," said Diane VanDe
Hei, executive director of AMWA.

 "If water systems are denied their day in court to prove this product
is defective, the ultimate victims of immunity from liability will be
the American people, who will lose their aquifers to contamination and
their money to cleanups and new sources of water," said Tom Curtis,
deputy executive director of the American Water Works Association
(AWWA).

 Liability immunity supporters say that MTBE use was mandated by the
Clean Air Act, and thus the product deserves Congress's protection.
But neither the Clean Air Act, nor EPA's reformulated gasoline
regulations, require the use of MTBE in any way.

 On ethanol, the drinking water groups worry about groundwater plumes
that contain the fuel degrade more slowly than those that only contain
gasoline.

 "Clearly the jury is still out on whether ethanol is environmentally
safe," said Tom Curtis, deputy executive director of AWWA. "Questions
surrounding ethanol should be answered before Congress gives big
business a liability exemption and leaves ordinary Americans holding
the bag. We do not want ethanol to become the next MTBE."

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