Learning to share and get along with others
In an editorial today the Washington Post highlights--get this--the fairly awful energy bill passed out of Senate committee as an example of what Congress can accomplish through bipartisan compromise. After returning from the brink of "nuclear" war, the Post implies, the Senate is much more civilized than the House (where Republicans are still allowed to hoot, bang their chests, and throw bananas across the aisle during floor votes).
"Unlike House members, senators did not go out of their way to create multiple exemptions to environmental laws." [emphasis mine] Thankfully, writes the Post, the Energy & Natural Resources Committee dropped the controversial MTBE provision that last year "led both Republican senators from New Hampshire to vote against the bill, thereby keeping it from passing."
That's great, just great.
"Unlike House members, senators did not go out of their way to create multiple exemptions to environmental laws." [emphasis mine] Thankfully, writes the Post, the Energy & Natural Resources Committee dropped the controversial MTBE provision that last year "led both Republican senators from New Hampshire to vote against the bill, thereby keeping it from passing."
That's great, just great.
posted by Waage on Tuesday, May 31, 2005
4 Comments:
Ok Waage. So u feel that the oil manufacturers should be exposed to MTBE LITIGATION .
I think you should know enough on the topic before going on to accuse anyone.
I will just give you a brief information that I felt I should be telling you and for any further information follow the link to a site which i thought might enlighten you on the topic MTBE LITIGATION . Feel free to contact me personally henrykwool@yahoo.com
See Waage, - the use of MTBE was mandated by the federal government. When it was found that the MTBE was seeping into the water bodies and contaminating it, MTBE was announced a contaminant. That is fine. But when it comes to suing up the oil companies for using a chemical, which had been mandated by the government, the move is not appropriate.
I hope that anyone who comes across my article will try to understand the real issue.
The oil companies are not the only one's responsible and holding them liable for the whole clean-up, does not go by the law.
Mr. Wool,
Yes, I do feel that gasoline manufactuers should be liable for the costs to public health and American communities that result from their choice to add a dangerous chemical to their products.
The use of MTBE was certainly not mandated by the federal government. Its use was a choice made by oil companies, and it is they, not American taxpayers, who should pay for that poor choice when drinking water is contaminated:
"Contrary to the assertions of MTBE producers, the Clean Air Act does not mandate the use of MTBE. In fact, MTBE was nowhere mentioned in the 1990 amendments, which were expressly fuel and additive neutral to allow the oil companies and the market to choose how to satisfy their requirements. Industry responded by choosing to use MTBE to meet that performance requirement. Court documents assert that MTBE manufacturers were aware that the fuel additive posed a threat to drinking water and failed to warn their customers."
-- U.S. senators to House and Senate Energy Committee leadership, 10/10/2003
Then how do u think that the oil companies had been using a contaminant for 10 years without an opposition from any of the EPA or government if it was their sole decision?
Mr. Wool, if that is in fact your name, since you appear to be a hired blog-spammer who can barely write in English,
Boy, would we be in trouble if it was up to the U.S. government to do oil companies' due diligence for them.
The problem is that the oil companies knew from the start that MTBE was harmful. The courts agree. Big oil companies have certainly been nailed for their responsibility for MTBE-spiked gasoline as a defective product.
If I tell you to "make me a bowl of soup" and you make the soup with meat you know to be rotten and harmful, and I then become sick, is it my fault I told you to make me a bowl of soup? Or is it YOUR fault that you used rotten meat to make it?
Don't want to get sued? Maybe you should practice a little due diligence and not use known carcinogens in your products.
And, just to answer your EPA question, when people first started complaining about drinking water contamination by MTBE, EPA--not always known for its swift action on such things, or for even following the law itself--finally got its act together and appointed an independent Blue Ribbon Panel to examine the issue. The Panel concluded that the use of MTBE was contaminating drinking water and should stop.
Editorial note:
I would appreciate it if you would write out the word "you" and otherwise use appropriate grammar and spelling when commenting on my blog. Thank you.
Post a Comment
<< Home