US appeals court upholds California MTBE ban
Date: 06-Jun-03
Country: USA
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision, which upheld a 2001 ruling of a federal judge in Sacramento, said Congress left states the authority to enact legislation governing matters of public health and safety.
California and at least a dozen other states, including New York, Connecticut and Maine, have decided to phase out MTBE, which has been blamed for polluting ground water.
"Though the MTBE ban is not expressly exempted from preemption by the Clean Air Act, the ban nonetheless is not preempted because it does not conflict with the goals and purposes of the Clean Air Act," the judges ruled.
A spokesman for the Oxygenated Fuels Association, which brought the lawsuit and represents MTBE producers, could not immediately be reached for comment.
The appeals court upheld the earlier ruling that found unlike other U.S. states, California was allowed to ban the additive because the state began regulating fuel and additives before the federal regulation went into effect in 1990.
California, which often takes a leading role in environmental regulations, had set a self-imposed 2003 deadline to stop all use of MTBE, or methyl tertiary butyl ether, which was found to be contaminating ground water.
Gov. Gray Davis, however, last year later delayed the ban until Jan. 1, 2004 in what the Democrat said was a bid to keep consumer gasoline prices in check. California drivers often face the nation's highest pump prices.