OSCAR ALVAREZ Third-year psychology student Nick
Avedesian pumps gas at the Chevron station in
Westwood.
By Peijean Tsai
Daily Bruin Contributor
Within a year, Californians could find more environmentally safe
gas ““ but it might come at a great cost.
Both the economy and the environment were key issues behind Gov.
Gray Davis’ recent decision to postpone the deadline for
California refineries to switch from MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl
ether) to ethanol as a prime component of gasoline.
Coastal regions generally use MTBE because of its availability,
whereas midwestern states use ethanol. Ethanol has been decreed
safer for the environment because it is derived from organic
matter, such as corn.
California needs time to set up the proper infrastructure to
work with ethanol, said David Chai, a spokesman for the governor.
This includes shipping in nearly one billion gallons of ethanol
from the Midwest, modifying its plants and building special tanks
for ethanol.
According to an Aug. 10, 2001 Los Angeles Times article, the oil
industry would have to spend roughly $1 billion to modify its
plants, a cost that would likely be passed to consumers.
Davis was “looking out for all Californians” when he
postponed the deadline, Chai said.
Syrus Devers, legislative aid to Sen. Sheila Kuehl, who
represents the 23rd district, which includes Santa Monica and
Westwood, said the eventual switch to ethanol would introduce
“greater price variability.”
Because ethanol is derived from corn, and corn prices are
volatile, ethanol would be vulnerable to the price fluctuations of
corn, he said.
Devers, however, supports using ethanol.
“Better to be vulnerable to (price) fluctuations than to
groundwater contamination,” he said.
Bill Rukeyser, assistant secretary for the California
Environmental Protection Agency, said gas prices could double.
Shona Roberson, a fourth-year psychology student who commutes to
campus, said she would not be willing to sacrifice cost for a more
environmentally friendly product if gas prices were to double.
Under the Clean Air Act of 1990, all states are required to use
an oxygenate, such as MTBE or ethanol, in the production of
gasoline to have fuel that burns more cleanly, thus reducing carbon
monoxide and nitrous oxide emissions.
While the health effects of MTBE are uncertain, MTBE causes
water to have a bad taste and smell, and could therefore be
hazardous, said Thomas Harmon, UCLA professor of civil and
environmental engineering.
Ethanol could still leak into water if used in gasoline, but
unlike MTBE, ethanol biodegrades more quickly. MTBE does not
biodegrade under natural conditions, Harmon said.
In response to the reports, California set a deadline for
replacing MTBE with ethanol in gasoline by the end of this year,
but Davis has pushed back this goal another 12 months.
Using ethanol as an oxygenate is completely unnecessary, said
Mel Suffet, UCLA professor of environmental science and
engineering. Improving air quality can be done without any
oxygenates, and the answer to clean air is in reformulating
gasoline altogether, he said.
But reformulation is not an option for California, as the
Federal Environmental Protection Agency requires that an oxygenate
be used in gasoline. California sought exemption from this
requirement on grounds of being able to meet clean air requirements
by reformulating gasoline. The waiver was rejected.
A plan has not been proposed, but the EPA is in the process of a
complete MTBE phaseout to abandon the use of the chemical, said
Cathy Milbourn, EPA spokeswoman at the Washington headquarters.