60 Minutes story on MTBE

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