Energy bill provision may stop suits over water polluted by gas additive

[salin]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-09-30-mtbe_x.htm

Energy bill provision may stop suits over water polluted by gas additive

By Laura Parker, USA TODAY

The city of Santa Monica, Calif., recently agreed to settle a lawsuit against 18 big oil companies and distributors of MTBE, a gasoline additive that has been found to contaminate drinking water.

Without the settlement — the amount of which is being negotiated — the city's water customers would have to foot the bill for an environmental cleanup that city officials say could cost $300 million.

But suits such as Santa Monica's might no longer be possible under a wide-ranging energy bill that Congress is about to pass. Buried in the massive bill is a paragraph that would give the makers and distributors of MTBE immunity from liability lawsuits like Santa Monica's. The provision protects makers from being held liable for defects "in design or manufacture of ... MTBE."


The energy bill addresses a long list of energy issues, from tax breaks for utilities to oil drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge. The House and Senate have passed differing versions of the bill, and negotiators are working this week on a compromise version.

If the MTBE provision makes it into the final bill, Santa Monica water manager Craig Perkins says it could leave cities and local water districts without a way to force those responsible for MTBE to pay for cleanups at thousands of sites across the nation that have been contaminated by the additive.

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Hey... If polluters are able to prevent redress in court - such that taxpayers will have to foot cleanup bills.... in a sort of way - isn't this a defered tax increase?