Taxpayers for Common Sense Action
Waiver for California on Oxygenated Gasoline.
In order to phase out methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), a gas additive credited with helping to reduce smog but blamed for polluting ground water, industry officials said it would take about 580 million gallons of ethanol, the only known substitute for MTBE, to meet California’s demand for oxygenated fuel. This amount is equal to about one-third of current U.S. production and would create a potential $1 billion boon to farmers who produce corn for making ethanol. This would drastically increase the annual $800 million in federal subsidies received by ethanol manufacturers.
Rep. Christopher Cox (R-CA) proposed a measure that would have allowed the state of California to market gasoline without ethanol.
The House rejected the Cox amendment.