House Vote On MTBE Leaves Questions Unresolved About Cleanup Fund

A House vote rejecting a push to strip a liability waiver for makers of the gasoline additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) from pending energy legislation leaves a number of questions unresolved regarding cleanup of the groundwater contaminant. Industry squabbling over how to distribute the burden of paying into a proposed fund for cleaning up MTBE pollution may complicate congressional efforts to negotiate an agreement on the controversial fuel oxygenate, according to industry sources, who say any deal will depend...