As many readers of the Letters to the Editor section of Garden City Life may recall, Garden City residents like John W. Morrison, a recognized and honored firefighter and respected neighbor, have been campaigning for several years to have government agencies re-examine the use of MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether). Morrison wrote letters to government agencies and urged his neighbors to do the same. Because of the efforts of individuals working to raise local and national awareness about the dangers of MTBE, the government is rethinking its current policies on MTBE and class action lawsuits are being filed related to MTBE throughout the country to push for testing of drinking water and to stop the use of it.

The Environmental Protection Agency had begun requiring that MTBE be placed in fuels being burned in vehicles for example to help keep the emissions cleaner. It was thought that MTBE would help clean the air and help enforce the Clean Air Act. As Morrison noted in one of his letters published in Garden City Life , "the cure is worse than the disease, as what you are now breathing is formaldehyde and other bad by-products." As MTBE made its way into ground water through surface spills at service stations, through leaks in vehicles, leaking underground storage tanks and pipes, etc. and made its way into lakes and other bodies of water through power boats, jet skis, and marinas, the ill effects of MTBE became clear across the country.

Morrison and concerned citizens like him formed a network of information sharers across the country, gathering articles, statistics, and any other information they could about links of illness to MTBE and the change in ecosystems resulting from the chemical. Morrison reported in a letter, "MTBE is believed to be carcinogenic, causing such problems as nosebleeds, asthma, runny eyes, nausea, sinus problems, and, most serious of all, it affects one's balance and equilibrium." It was also determined that MTBE damaged fuel systems and could shake loose particles of fiberglass from gas pumps and damage gas gauges. Morrison's research indicated that there was a strong link between engine fires and MTBE's effects on vehicles.

Many states have and are in the process of enacting legislation to ban MTBE. With Morrison and growing numbers of Americans calling for letter campaigns to political leaders and increased awareness among environmental advocacy organizations, pressure has been mounting to not only ban the use of MTBE, but to help undo the damage it may have caused the environment and the public. Also, because of the reports around the country of water supplies being polluted by the chemical, pressure has been mounting to have all water supplies tested for its presence.

The Long Island Water Conference (an association of Nassau-Suffolk public water suppliers) is now touting the safety of public water on Long Island in response to a potential class action lawsuit filed recently in Kings County courts on behalf of all New York State homeowners whose drinking water comes from private wells. While the suit would force oil companies to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to test private wells and not public wells for MTBE and compensate people whose property values have been reduced, the Water Conference is seeking to reassure people that public water suppliers already rigorously test for MTBE and other pollutants. The more than two million people on Long Island who receive their water from a public source would not be affected by the suit, but those whose water whether in their main home or weekend home elsewhere is from a private well could be impacted by the case.

The Long Island Water Conference also stated in a public statement that it tests for more than "140 parameters, including MTBE" and it has "publicly advocated banning the gasoline additive this past summer." Conference Chair Bill Ring, also a resident of Garden City, announced, "The people should be aware that MTBE is not currently a problem in their public tap water. However, the product should be banned to protect the future of our drinking water."

Ring continued, "We are obviously concerned about MTBE because it spreads rapidly and easily mixes with water. We are monitoring for it in accordance with state guidelines. By law, any public well that is found to be contaminated in excess of state water quality guidelines must be taken off-line immediately and treatment implemented. Routine sampling by the public water suppliers as well as the county and state health departments ensures that the water that comes out of your tap is thoroughly tested. After all, the people who work to bring Long Islanders drinking water drink it and so do their families."