PM-ME--MTBE Lawsuit, Bjt,600
     Associated Press

     Friday, March 3, 2000

     Judge rejects class-action status for MTBE lawsuit
     By MICHELLE EMERY=
     Associated Press Writer=

     PORTLAND, Maine (AP) _ A judge has ruled not to give
     class-action status to a lawsuit a handful of Maine well owners filed
     against the makers of the gasoline additive MtBE.

     Cumberland County Superior Court Justice Roland A. Cole ruled
     Thursday that the suit should not encompass all Maine well owners. He
     said there are too many different ways that MtBE, or methyl tertiary
     butyl ether, can cause well contamination, such as through spills or
     leaking underground tanks.

     Cole ruled that the lawsuit the five homeowners filed against
     the manufacturers does not adequately encompass the MtBE concerns of
     all well owners.

     Cole wrote in his ruling that the plaintiffs' decision to
     exclude personal injury cases and claims against ``actual spillers''
     could preclude class members with contaminated wells from suing for
     other damages. He added that class members whose wells have lower
     levels of MtBE would be barred from receiving damages to clean up
     their wells.

     ``I think it's a mistake, and it doesn't quite hold up under
     real world facts,'' said the plaintiffs' lawyer, Jon Hinck.

     ``Well owners in the state of Maine are going to have to proceed on
     their own to get their well-water tested for MtBE contamination, and
     pursue their own legal remedies,'' he said.

     Plaintiffs sought to have the Atlantic Richfield Co., the Arco
     Chemical Co. and the Lyondell Chemical Co., manufacturers of MtBE, pay
     to test 250,000 wells in Maine for MtBE contamination and to
     clean up any contamination found. They say the companies failed to
     warn about water contamination dangers and exaggerated air-quality
     benefits.

     The defendants argue that state and federal environmental
     officials knew about the risk MtBE posed to groundwater. They decided
     the clean-air benefits of gasoline reformulated with high levels of
     MtBE outweighed contamination concerns, defense lawyer William Kayatta
     said.

     Kayatta said testing and cleanup would cost more than $15
     million.

     ``The court recognized that these were at best novel and
     untested claims,'' Kayatta said.

     ``The court recognized that the plaintiffs were hoping to hold the
     manufacturers liable for contamination of their wells regardless of
     the fact that the contamination and spills were caused by others, and
     we thought that was unfair,'' he said.

     The defendants' next move will be to file a motion to dismiss
     the lawsuit, Kayatta said.

     ``We don't think there is any basis, and now that's the issue,'' he
     said.

     Hinck said he was encouraged by Cole's statement in his ruling that
     MtBE contamination is a problem.

     ``Their cases are viable, and they're going forward,'' he said,
     adding that other individual well owners may join the lawsuit.

     Hinck is assisting with a similar effort in North Carolina, where
     well owners are trying to get class-action status for a lawsuit
     against oil companies.

     MtBE, a possible carcinogen, moves more quickly through soil and
     water than other components of gasoline. Long-term exposure has caused
     cancer in lab animals, but there is not enough data to say whether it
     also will cause cancer in humans. Its use was mandated in 16 states as
     a way to cut down on air pollution.

     Maine stopped using reformulated gasoline with high levels of MtBE
     last May, after state studies found about 15 percent of wells tested
     had been contaminated with the additive. Residents in several other
     states, including New Hampshire, New Jersey, California and
     Connecticut, also have grown concerned about MtBE contamination.


     AP-ES-03-03-00 0219EST