Attached is a statement by OFA reacting to last night's "60 Minutes" story 
about MTBE.

The program was not overly critical of MTBE producers, in fact the industry 
was rarely mentioned.  The story omitted altogether footage from an interview 
done with OFA.  However it hit EPA and refiners hard about 1) not thoroughly 
investigating the potential harm to groundwater MTBE could cause and 2) once 
learning of that harm, not acting quickly enough to do something about that 
harm.

The story will give added traction to legislation currently being considered 
by Congress that would provide states with the ability to apply for a waiver 
to the oxygenate requirement or even ban MTBE altogether.   To that end, we 
are drafting legislative language for attachment to any oxygenate/MTBE bills 
that would provide stranded costs for U.S. MTBE producers, retroactive to the 
point before Enron took the after-tax charge on the MTBE asset.

Also, because EPA was criticized for its inaction, EPA will likely give 
expedited consideration to the state of California's request for an oxygenate 
waiver.  A regulatory grant of California's request would eliminate the need 
for Rep. Bilbray's California-only legislation, and could complicate the 
passage of more national-focused legislation.   While a regulatory fix is a 
possibility, and could have more immediate negative impact than legislation, 
a regulation of this nature would be immediately challenged in court on 
several grounds by MTBE producers.

I will keep you informed about any developments on the MTBE issue.  Please 
let me know if you receive are any inquiries from policy makers or media in 
the wake of the 60 Minutes story.

Jeff Keeler
(202) 466-9157 phone
(202) 828-3372 fax

 - Statement.doc