Volume 3   Issue  36                        November   2004

Gasoline Additive Found In Hundreds Of Maryland Wells

 Hagerstown Morning Herald November 19, 2004

The additive, methyl tertiary butyl ether, has been escaping from underground fuel tanks and detected in hundreds of drinking-water wells across Maryland, state environment officials told the House Environmental Matters Committee.

The chemical used to help gas burn more cleanly has been shown to cause cancer in laboratory rats at high doses, but the health effects of low levels in humans are unknown.

Overhauls at gas stations over the last decade to prevent fuel leaks has not stopped MTBE from escaping as vapor through cracks and loose fittings on tanks, environmental officials said.

Newly proposed regulations would require new gas stations in areas dependent on groundwater to use double-walled fuel pipes and other measures to keep gas out of groundwater, said environment secretary Kendl P. Philbrick. It does not require existing stations to take such measures. With legislators' approval these new rules could take effect in weeks.

The additive has now been found in about 600 private wells statewide - mostly at low levels, said Maryland Department of the Environment's oil control program chief Herbert Meade.

When MTBE was discovered in wells in the Fallston area of Harford County over the summer, residents called for a ban of the additive.

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