Oil companies pay 28 million for MTBE contamination-Shell Oil Co., Equilon Enterprises LLC and Texaco Inc. announced a settlement of 28 million to resolve liability for contamination of California's South Lake Tahoe water supply with methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE). The Aug. 5, 2002, settlement, combined with earlier out-of-court settlements, brings the MTBE-related set-tlement total to 69 million. In April, jurors found the three companies responsible for MTBE pollution that closed one-third of the utility's drinking water wells. Other parties reaching earlier out-of-court settlements include Tosco (now owned by Phillips Petroleum), ExxonMobil Corp., Atlantic Richfield Co., Unocal Corp. and Chevron USA. MTBE commonly is used as a gasoline oxygenate to help fuel burn cleaner, as required by the Clean Air Act. In California, it is being phased out - a 1999 study found the additive poses a serious threat to public health and the environment. Nearly all California oil companies have announced plans to transition from MTBE to ethanol.
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