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Banned fuel additive found in groundwater near gas storage tanks

The Associated Press
10/11/00

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Environmental regulators have found high levels of a gasoline additive in ground water around as many as 120 leaky gasoline storage tanks in Oregon and Washington.

Risks from methyl tertiary butyl ether, better known as MTBE, have been downplayed for years by Northwest officials.

But at one-quarter of those sites, MTBE turned up at levels exceeding federal drinking water advisories, officials of both states said. MTBE is added to gasoline to help vehicle engines burn more cleanly.

About 200 residents of Spray, in northeastern Oregon, continued to drink bottled water Tuesday after a gas station storage tank leaked the additive into the town's water supply. MTBE also polluted Keno Elementary School's water well in Southern Oregon.

So far, Washington officials know of no public drinking water affected by the leaks.

California was the first state to ban use of the additive-infused fuels after studies in the mid-1999s found MTBE outside 70 percent of the state's leaking gas tanks. Some levels of MTBE recorded were at 1,000 times what federal officials consider to be safe, said Merlyn Hough, a tank cleanup manager with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

Regulators said concentrations found in Oregon and Washington were lower than those in California.

Still, recent test results in Oregon and Washington have raised concerns.

Washington officials estimate that MTBE-contaminated ground water could be present in 800 locations where tanks have leaked gasoline into ground water. Another 800 sites could also exist in Oregon.

It was not clear whether those leaks pose threats to drinking water, officials in both states said.

Oregon's DEQ, which began sampling earlier, found MTBE around 48 percent of 64 leaking tanks stretching from Portland to Medford, and from Newport to Ontario and Frenchglen. One-quarter of those tanks exceeded federally advised health limits, Hough said.

So far, Oregon has cleaned up 3,500 of 6,250 leaking underground storage tanks, Hough said.

Washington Department of Ecology's tests, financed by the EPA and released publicly Tuesday, found MTBE around 30 of 62 leaking underground storage tanks, including sites in Vancouver, Hazel Dell and Woodland.

At 15 of those sites, including two sites in Vancouver and one in Hazel Dell, MTBE levels exceeded EPA's drinking water advisory of 20 parts per billion. The exact sites were not disclosed.

Last month, Oregon began screening 53 public drinking water systems for MTBE, including wells in Portland, Milwaukie, Sherwood and Troutdale. Washington officials plan a similar round of tests.

In 1998, Oregon set cleanup limits and required all new leaking underground storage tanks to be tested for MTBE. Washington plans to adopt similar measures.

MTBE was used in the 1990s in reformulated gasoline. It smells like turpentine, even in small amounts, and spreads in water more quickly than other gasoline ingredients.

Studies on rats suggest that small amounts in water can harm the kidneys, liver and nervous system. Larger amounts cause cancer in lab animals. In March, EPA announced that it would ban the additive in three years.

Northwest officials got wind of the extent of the problem from testing done earlier this year, they said.

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