WASHINGTON — A sweeping energy bill coming before Congress this week would not only limit the liability of manufacturers of a gasoline additive blamed for fouling water supplies from California to New Hampshire but would also give the companies up to $2 billion in federal aid, according to details of the Republican-drafted bill released Saturday.
Legal protection for makers of the fuel additive methyl tertiary-butyl ether, or MTBE, is emerging as one of the more contentious provisions in the energy legislation. The bill seeks to reduce dependence on foreign oil and prevent problems like the 2000-01 California electricity crisis and this summer's Northeast blackout.
The bill would provide between $16 billion and $20 billion in tax breaks to promote energy production and conservation, establish programs to modernize the nation's electric grid and mandate greater use of corn-based ethanol in gasoline.
It includes projects big and small: One provision would guarantee loans to spur construction of a pipeline to bring Alaskan natural gas to the Midwest; another would fund a study of energy production from ocean waves.
The measure faces its first test Monday before a House-Senate conference committee. The bill is expected to encounter criticism from some lawmakers there over a provision that would shield MTBE manufacturers from product liability lawsuits, retroactive to Sept. 5.
The legislation could undermine pending court cases, such as a suit filed recently by New Hampshire officials against oil and chemical companies in connection with contamination allegedly caused by MTBE. The suit alleges that various companies minimized or concealed known hazards associated with MTBE, misleading government agencies.
In another case, the Sacramento County district attorney and a group of water utilities filed suit Oct. 2 seeking compensation to clean up underground MTBE pollution.
MTBE, which will be banned from California gasoline by the end of the year, helps cut auto-emission pollution but is blamed for contaminating groundwater.
Whereas earlier versions of the bill provided so-called transition assistance of about $800 million to help MTBE manufacturers retool plants to make other gasoline products, the latest version of legislation increases that amount to up to $2 billion over 10 years.
