Monthly MTBE Report

[Scott Miller <sdmiller@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This is mainly for Northern Californians.  If you don=92t care about MTBE
in your fuel or in your drinking water, scroll on down now.  I=92ll get
the obligatory BMW content out of the way up front:  According to Steve
Dinan (at his tech session several months ago), when fuels were changed
to include oxygenates, they had to change their chip programming to
optimize performance.  Of course, cars with upgraded software mainly run
premium fuel, which is not the subject here.  OK, BMW content was a
stretch.  Sorry.

According to the 11/13/98 Contra Costa (CA) Times, two more refineries
are joining Chevron in eliminating MTBE from regular grade fuels for
sale in the S.F. Bay Area.  These are the Tosco refinery in Rodeo, which
supplies Union 76 and independent stations, and Shell.  They say that
the Exxon refinery in Benicia has not yet decided if they=92re going to
eliminate the MTBE.  This all applies only to winter-time fuels. The
federal government is relaxing the oxygenate requirement in the Bay Area
because there is currently less carbon monoxide in the air.=20
Sacramento=92s air quality has not improved, apparently, so Sacto
continues to get regular fuels with MTBE.

To keep Tim happy, I have to also point out that federal laws don=92t
require MTBE, they only require oxygenates, at a minimum of 2% by weight
(it says here), and only in areas that don=92t meet certain air quality
standards.  Refineries in CA chose to use MTBE because it was the
cheapest way for them to meet the requirement.  Given that, it is
interesting that, according to the article, "Oil companies say that to
eliminate MTBE altogether, Congress must amend the Clean Air Act".=20
Obviously, the oil companies are pointing to the government as the
reason why they have to use MTBE, when we all know that there are other
oxygenates out there.  In fact, Union 76 stations in Contra Costa, Marin
and Sonoma counties are selling gas with ethanol as the oxygenate.

Why the big stink?  Drinking water contamination.  According to the same
article, a University of California study released this week and
delivered to CA governor Pete Wilson recommends "phasing out MTBE over
an interval of several years".  The study says that MTBE "doesn=92t
substantially reduce air pollution and has the potential to cause
widespread damage to water supplies", according to the Co Co Times.=20
MTBE has leaked into lakes, streams and ground water at thousands of
sites, and is a suspected carcinogen.

I was not on the Digest when MTBE was first introduced a couple of years
ago.  Were there any discussions about it=92s affect on Bimmer
performance?  If there was no adverse affect on performance in BMWs,
I=92ll stop posting these reports.  My own MTBE problems were in a Ford
Ranger pick-up, but my E30 325i didn=92t seem to be affected.  (Yes, I
know I could spend much time searching the archives for this
information, but it would only take a few seconds for a couple of you to
respond, if you remember.)

Thanks for putting up with this, now back to the latest flame wars.

Scott Miller
Golden Gate Chapter
BMW CCA #44977

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