CSE demands that the use of MTBE be banned in India as an additive to petrol

New Delhi, August 9, 2000- The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has strongly protested to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) about the proposal to add Methyl Tertiery Butyl Ether as an oxygenate to petrol to reduce carbon monoxide emissions. There is a proposal to make the use of MTBE mandatory in Delhi. CSE has pointed out to the MoEF that it has proved to be a very serious groundwater contaminant in the United States. California has already banned the use of MTBE from 2002 onwards. A similar decision has been taken by the US government and the Senate hearings on the issue have already started. The Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Senator Bob Smith, in a speech on the Senate floor has said, "MTBE has done more damage to our drinking water than we really would care to know. This is a serous environmental problem that must be addressed".

Anil Agarwal, Director, CSE, said that it is sad that at a time when the US is getting out of MTBE, the government of India is planning to allow the use of MTBE by petroleum companies in this country. Since groundwater is the main source of drinking water for rural Indians and increasingly for urban Indians as well, the contamination of groundwater by a substance that is possibly a carcinogen is going to create very serious problems. In a letter to the MoEF, Mr Agarwal has said, "If you don’t stop MTBE, you will be allowing the biggest possible murder of our people because groundwater is the biggest source of drinking water in India and is becoming an important source even in towns. And almost all of it is imbibed without any treatment."

CSE has undertaken a review of the literature and has found the following problems with MTBE:

1. There are studies in the USA to show that MTBE is not even very effective in reducing carbon monoxide and ozone levels. Actually the reductions that have been seen in the US after the addition of MTBE can be attributed to many other developments that have taken place in automobile technology.

2. It is an extremely serious groundwater contaminant. It spreads into groundwater extremely fast and stays there for a very long time.

3.There are serious doubts that it is also a carcinogen for human beings. Studies with animals have proved to be highly carcinogenic.

The reason why the issue of oxygenates as additives in petrol has come up is because the government of India has been asked to move away from leaded petrol to unleaded petrol. In order to deal with knocking problem, the refineries provide unleaded petrol with high quantities of benzene and other aromatics, which are strong carcinogens. The Supreme Court has already ordered that the benzene content should be restricted in the National Capital Territory to 1 per cent in petrol from October 2000. Slowly there would also be pressure to control the total aromatic content in petrol. Therefore, the issue of adding oxygenates has come up to deal with the knocking problem and to ensure good combustion.

Mr Agarwal has recommended to the MoEF that companies should not be allowed to use any oxygenate they want accoeding to their own wishes. The Ministry of Petroleum has shown absolutely no interest in taking environmental issues into account uptil now in its products. Therefore the MoEF must set up a committee to deal with the problem of oxygenates. Some of the oxygenates are heavy metal-based and will inevitably have serious consequences. There have been debates in Canada and the US, for example, on the use of MMT which is another oxygenate. Therefore, it is time that a committee be set up with a concerned policy on which oxygenate will be allowed or not and such a committee must include enviornmentalists to take the public health and environmental considerations in mind. The matter cannot just be left to technical people.

Mr Agarwal said that ideally speaking the best oxygenate that we should be using is ethanol and in fact that is what the US is moving towards. India too is a major sugar producer and therefore should not have much problems in using ethanol as an oxygenate. Indian scientists have considerable information on the impact on emissions by using ethanol.

Mr Agarwal also pointed that it is high time that the Ministry of Environment changes assessment procedures to assess environmental impact. At the moment the ministry only has a procedure called Environmental Impact Assessment under which the environmental impact of plants is assessed. This is a site-based assessment. But with economic growth taking place new products are coming into the market which could be extremely polluting even if the production site is clean, and be a major killer. For example, the automobile industry has calmly come up with diesel cars without any assessment by the government of the impact of diesel vehicles. Similarly the petroleum industry is planning to use a variety of oxygenates without any assessment of the environmental impact. Bharat Petroleum already has an MTBE plant. Therefore, it is essential that a Product Environmental Impact Assessment procedure must now be established by the MoEF. Otherwise, a mere site-specific assessment will not be good enough to protect the Indian people from the health and environmental effects of the bad products produced by Indian industry. Neither the public sector companies nor the private sector companies have shown any ability to be able to factor in environmental considerations in the products that they produce for mass consumption.