State of Illinois
91st General Assembly
Legislation

   [ Search ]   [ Legislation ]
[ Home ]   [ Back ]   [ Bottom ]



91_HB4719

 
                                               LRB9113857DHdv

 1        AN ACT concerning MTBE.

 2        Be it enacted by the People of  the  State  of  Illinois,
 3    represented in the General Assembly:

 4        Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the MTBE
 5    Elimination Act.

 6        Section 5. Findings. The General Assembly finds that:
 7        (1)  a single cup of MTBE, equal to the quantity found in
 8    one  gallon  of gasoline oxygenated with MTBE, renders all of
 9    the water in a 5,000,000-gallon well undrinkable;
10        (2)  the physical properties of MTBE allow MTBE  to  pass
11    easily  from  gasoline  to  air  to  water,  or from gasoline
12    directly to water, but MTBE does not readily attach  to  soil
13    particles or naturally degrade;
14        (3)  the   development   of  tumors  and  nervous  system
15    disorders in mice and rats has been  linked  to  exposure  to
16    MTBE  and  tertiary butyl alcohol and formaldehyde, which are
17    2 metabolic byproducts of MTBE;
18        (4)  reproductive  and  developmental  studies  of   MTBE
19    indicate  that  exposure of a pregnant female to MTBE through
20    inhalation can result in maternal toxicity and have  possible
21    adverse effects on a developing fetus;
22        (5)  the  Health  Effects  Institute reported in February
23    1996 that the studies of MTBE support its classification as a
24    neurotoxicant and suggest that its primary effect  is  likely
25    to be in the form of acute impairment;
26        (6)  people with higher levels of MTBE in the bloodstream
27    are  significantly  more likely to report more headaches, eye
28    irritation,  nausea,  dizziness,  burning  of  the  nose  and
29    throat, coughing, disorientation, and vomiting,  as  compared
30    with those who have lower levels of MTBE in the bloodstream;
31        (7)  MTBE   significantly   reduces   the  efficiency  of
 
                            -2-                LRB9113857DHdv
 1    technologies  used  to  remediate   water   contaminated   by
 2    petroleum hydrocarbons;
 3        (8)  the costs of remediation of MTBE water contamination
 4    throughout  the  United States could run into the billions of
 5    dollars;
 6        (9)  although several  studies  are  being  conducted  to
 7    assess   possible   methods   to   remediate  drinking  water
 8    contaminated by MTBE,  there  are  currently  no  engineering
 9    solutions   to  make  such  remediation  cost  effective  and
10    practicable;
11        (10)  the remediation of drinking water  contaminated  by
12    MTBE,  involving  the  stripping  of  millions  of gallons of
13    contaminated ground water, can cost millions of  dollars  per
14    municipality;
15        (11)  the  reformulated  gasoline  program  under Section
16    211(k) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7545(k)) has  resulted
17    in substantial reductions in the emissions of a number of air
18    pollutants  from  motor  vehicles, including volatile organic
19    compounds, carbon monoxide, and  toxic  air  pollutants  from
20    mobile sources, including benzene;
21        (12) in assessing oxygenate alternatives, the Blue Ribbon
22    Panel  of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency determined
23    that ethanol, made from domestic grain and  potentially  from
24    recycled   biomass,  is  an  effective  fuel  component  that
25    provides carbon monoxide emission benefits  and  high  octane
26    and  appears  to  contribute  to  the reduction of the use of
27    aromatics, providing reductions in  emissions  of  toxic  air
28    pollutants and other air quality benefits;
29        (13)  the  U.S.  Department of Agriculture concluded that
30    ethanol production and distribution could be expanded to meet
31    the needs of the reformulated gasoline program  in  4  years,
32    with negligible price impacts and no interruptions in supply;
33    and
34        (14)  because  the  reformulated  gasoline  program  is a
 
                            -3-                LRB9113857DHdv
 1    source of  clean  air  benefits,  and  ethanol  is  a  viable
 2    alternative  that provides air quality and economic benefits,
 3    research and development efforts should be directed to assess
 4    infrastructure and meet other challenges necessary  to  allow
 5    ethanol  use  to expand sufficiently to meet the requirements
 6    of the reformulated gasoline program as the use  of  MTBE  is
 7    phased out.

 8        Section 10. Definitions.  As used in this Act:
 9        "MTBE" means methyl tertiary butyl ether.
10        "Agency"  means  the  Illinois  Environmental  Protection
11    Agency.

12        Section  15.   Local government assistance.  The Illinois
13    Environmental Protection Agency  shall  adopt  all  necessary
14    rules  to implement a program to provide technical assistance
15    and information to units of local government, and, subject to
16    appropriations from the General Assembly,  the  Agency  shall
17    make  matching  funds  available  to  assist  units  of local
18    government  in  testing  drinking  water  supplies   and   in
19    remediating drinking water contaminated with MTBE.

20        Section  20.   MTBE prohibitions. Beginning 3 years after
21    the effective date of this Act, no person  shall  use,  sell,
22    offer for sale, blend, or manufacture MTBE as a fuel additive
23    in  Illinois,  nor shall any person transport fuel containing
24    MTBE within or through the State of Illinois.

25        Section 25.  Grants for research  on  MTBE  ground  water
26    contamination and remediation.
27        (a)  There  is established a MTBE research grants program
28    to be administered by the Agency. The Agency shall develop by
29    rule a grant program to provide  funding  for  the  costs  of
30    research  on  the  development  of  more  cost  effective and
 
                            -4-                LRB9113857DHdv
 1    accurate  MTBE  ground  water   testing   methods   and   the
 2    development  of more efficient and cost effective remediation
 3    procedures for water sources contaminated with MTBE.
 4        (b)  In making grants under this  Section,  the  Director
 5    shall  seek  and  accept  proposals for grants, determine the
 6    relevance and merit of proposals, award grants on  the  basis
 7    of  merit,  quality,  and relevance to advancing the purposes
 8    for which a grant may be awarded under  subsection  (a),  and
 9    give priority to those proposals for which matching funds are
10    available.
11        (c)  Grants  under  this  Section  shall  be awarded on a
12    competitive basis.
13        (d)  No grant under this Section shall have a term longer
14    than 4 years.

15        Section 99.  Effective date.  This Act takes effect  upon
16    becoming law.

[ Top ]