California jury finds companies liable for MTBE pollution
Date: 19-Apr-02
Country: USA
The San Francisco Superior Court jury also found that Shell Oil Co. and Lyondell Chemical Co. hid information about the potential dangers of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), according to Will Rostov, a lawyer with the Communities for a Better Environment.
The third defendant, Tosco Corp., acquired by Phillips Petroleum last year, was found liable for the Lake Tahoe pollution but not for withholding information.
"It is hugely significant," Rostov said of the jury decision on Monday. "It is the first time a jury has found that gasoline containing MTBE is a defective product."
While he noted the decision set no legal precedent, he said it was an important sign that a jury was willing to determine that MTBE is defective. Deliberations on damages are set to begin April 22.
Representatives for Tosco could not be reached, while Shell and Lyondell spokesmen said they could not comment because of a gag order in the case. A plaintiff's lawyer representing the South Lake Tahoe Utility District said he could not comment for the same reason.
MTBE is a so-called oxygenate added to gasoline to make it burn cleaner. The federal 1990 Clean Air Act requires an oxygenate to be added to at least one quarter of the nation's gasoline supply.
But California and at least a dozen other states have decided to phase out MTBE out of concern the fuel additive may cause cancer and that it spreads quickly through soil and ground water.
Environmental groups and communities across the country have lodged a spate of MTBE lawsuits targeting oil companies in bids to recover costs of cleaning up the fuel additive.
"This is the first shot across the bow," said Rostov, whose group has its own MTBE lawsuit. "It is going to hold the oil companies responsible for MTBE contamination."
The South Lake Tahoe Utility District sued 31 oil companies and other defendants in 1998, charging that MTBE had ruined 12 of the area's 34 drinking wells and seeking as much as $50 million in damages.
All but the current three oil firms have settled, bringing in a total of some $33 million that the utility district is using to restore its water supply, a utility district spokesman said.