RE: [ihc] Octane selection

["John M. Adams" <jma@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Hofstetter [mailto:hofs@domain.elided]
> Sent: Tuesday, August 17, 2004 10:56 AM
> To: jma@domain.elided
> Cc: Steven Stegmann; David Bongo; ihc@domain.elided; David Raistrick
> Subject: Re: [ihc] Octane selection
>
>
>
> On Aug 17, 2004, at 7:15 AM, John M. Adams wrote:
>
> > John, is that due to the MTBE? What's the latest on that disaster? Are
> > they
> > still on track to lose that like Davis promised? As I remember, it
> > came out
> > of the pump smelling bad already, and only got worse if it sat. Not to
> > mention the 101 other problems...
> > John A.
>
> I assume that the MTBE is at least part of the problem with our gas
> deterioration.  Davis set a date for the MTBE to be gone from our gas,
> but scuttlebutt has it that getting it out of the gas isn't going to
> happen for many many years, in California.
>
> We Californians are already paying the highest prices in the nation for
> gas, and all that has to happen to get us off MTBE's case, is to
> suggest that eliminating MTBE would raise the price of fuel.
>
> I've read that the MTBE is a byproduct from the refinery process and
> that putting it into the gas rather than ethanol has the side benefit
> (?) of getting rid of the stuff.
>
> Gasoline with ethanol is apparently destructive of pipelines, whereas
> MTBE causes no problems with pipelines. Again, a factor that could
> raise prices.
>
> We have, as you probably know, a terrible problem here in California
> with the MTBE contaminating ground water.
>
> The EPA appointed a Blue Ribbon Commission to study the problems caused
> by MTBE and made some pretty strong recommendations, which the EPA
> watered way down to a number of pretty weak suggestions.
>
> John
>

I followed this pretty closely while I was still in CA, starting with its
inception back in... what, 1996? Over the years, I've read and/or heard the
following:

1. it is a known carcinogen (i.e., shown to have caused cancer in laboratory
test animals)
2. it enters the groundwater, like you say, causing a worse environmental
problem than it was (ostensibly) meant to address
3. it is not easily filtered out of said groundwater, due to its particular
molecular structure
4. it reduces the fuel's potential energy and therefore its mpg yield,
causing more emissions per mile, not less
5. it causes accelerated breakdown of the materials used in fuel hose and
gaskets, leading to increased engine fires
6. it stinks

As you mentioned, it is a byproduct at the refinery. The oil companies used
to have to pay to get rid of it. Then they got the clever idea of getting
the consumer to BUY the waste from them instead. They worked deals with
politicos in the California Air Resources Board (CARB), and various other
slimeballs in Sacramento, to make a request of the EPA to mandate the
additive in California. The EPA happily complied (being typically
misinformed as to the "benefits" of this oxygenate), so when the excrement
started to hit the oscillator, the locals could all say "The Feds made us do
it!" ("But we'll be proactive and put warning labels on the gas pumps!") And
even without that excuse, it was worth the political risk due to the
millions of dollars to be made. Or perhaps billions is more accurate. "Smog
Check II" screenings, dynamometer sales and licensing, and the crowning
achievement: monopoly on all gas sold in the entire state. There is no
supply-side competition since MTBE. That's why CA has the highest prices in
the nation. But wait, it gets worse... When the damage finally sinks in with
the populace, and the political pressure to remove it finally reaches
critical mass, the cost of removing it will be passed on to the consumer as
well. CA drivers will pay even more at the pump for the privilege of having
removed from their gasoline a useless, poisonous, noxious byproduct that
never should have been there in the first place. It is one of the biggest
fraud / rip-offs in history. Just thinking about it again, I can feel my
blood pressure returning to pre-exodus levels.

So... End of rant.

John A.