The Plainview Water District has the responsibility to provide drinking water to the 32,000 residents of the Plainview and Old Bethpage area. For the past several years, the Plainview Water District has led the battle to ban the use of MTBE in automotive gasoline that has finally come to pass in New York State in January 2004. MTBE is a gasoline additive, which is non-biodegradable, has a propensity to sink into the aquifer system and is soluble in water.

According to the Water District, MTBE is a documented threat to the sole-source of drinking water for 3.3 million Long Island residents in addition to water supply sources in all 62 New York counties. More than 130 public water supply wells in Nassau and Suffolk counties have been contaminated with MTBE. Nearly 100 additional public supply wells have been contaminated elsewhere in New York. The cost of remediating these problems is unprecedented and could exceed over $100 million on Long Island alone. Supply wells or reservoirs polluted with MTBE can require treatment systems costing millions of dollars in capital construction costs and tens of millions of dollars in long-term operation and maintenance costs. Cleaning up one gas station's MTBE problems can cost more than a million dollars.

The petrochemical industry is trying to argue that it was mandated to use MTBE in gasoline, however this is simply not true, according to the Plainview Water District. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency itself states, "The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (CAA) require the use of oxygenated gasoline in areas with unhealthy levels of air pollution. The CAA does not specifically require MTBE." That means Congress is not obligated to shield manufacturers from liability. The Plainview Water District strongly opposes provisions in pending energy legislation that would provide product liability immunity (so called "safe harbor") to gasoline manufacturers for MTBE. If such product immunity is eventually enacted, gasoline manufacturers will have little incentive to clean up contaminated water supplies or assist in the development of alternative water sources. These costs are anticipated to be billions of dollars nationwide, and should be borne by the manufacturers of these products, not by water consumers.

"Safe harbor" shifts liability for clean-up away from the manufacturers at fault to water consumers. It also shifts liability to retailers and distributors, who are in no way responsible for the decision to produce a product that has such capacity for environmental harm as MTBE, and who are unlikely to have the resources necessary to remedy the problems created by MTBE.

"Residents can rest assured that my fellow commissioners and I are committed to protecting our precious drinking water supply," said Commissioner Shulroff. "We have made tremendous strides over the past few years in convincing state and federal government officials to the negative impact MTBE can have on the environment. We will continue to aggressively monitor the quality of our water and take appropriate measures against all polluters. However we urge residents to get involve and oppose the inclusion of an MTBE immunity provision in any energy bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. We ask you to get involved and communicate your strong opposition to House members of the conference committee negotiating the energy legislation."

The Board of Commissioners would like to thank the community for their continued support. Should residents have any other questions and concerns, please feel free to contact the Water District at 931-6469.