SENATORS BLAST ENERGY BILL BOXER SEEKS FILIBUSTER ACTION OVER LEGISLATION'S MTBE LIABILITY SHIELD.

Byline: Lisa Friedman Washington Bureau

California's Democratic U.S. senators lashed out against a sweeping federal energy bill the House passed Tuesday with liability protection for makers of the water-contaminating gasoline additive MTBE.

Sen. Barbara Boxer vowed to filibuster the bill and called its MTBE shield ``a get-out-of-jail-free card for the people who destroyed our quality of water.''

Sen. Dianne Feinstein dubbed it ``a giveaway to special interests'' and said the liability protection will nullify 19 California lawsuits against makers of methyl tertiary butyl ether, including one by the city of Riverside.

The House passed the sweeping energy bill 246-180, giving tax incentives for oil, gas and coal producers and, in a triumph for corn producers, requiring a sharp increase in ethanol use in gasoline.

Among Southern California's representatives, it was virtually a party- line vote. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, was the region's only Republican against the bill and Rep. Joe Baca, D-San Bernardino, the only Democrat in favor of it.

GOP members voting for it included Reps. Elton Gallegly, R-Thousand Oaks; Howard ``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita; and Bill Thomas, R- Bakersfield. Democrats against it included Reps. Xavier Becerra, D-Los Angeles; Howard Berman, D-Van Nuys; Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena; Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks; and Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles.

The bill next moves to the Senate where Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Tuesday he and Boxer are ``busy counting votes'' to muster support for a filibuster.

MTBE has been used in California since about 1990 when the federal government enacted laws calling for a certain amount of oxygenate in all reformulated gasoline to reduce emissions. Since then, studies have found the additive seeping through leaky tanks throughout California and fouling groundwater.

MTBE lobbyists on Tuesday defended the liability protections, and accused Boxer - who is up for re-election in 2004 - of exaggerating the oxygenate's dangers.

``Senator Boxer has tended to significantly overstate the case against MTBE no matter how many times the record is corrected,'' said Scott Segal, a Washington attorney for the Oxygenated Fuels Association industry group. He said opening the industry to lawsuits would discourage investment in future clean-fuel efforts.

Boxer noted that 43 states have experienced MTBE contamination and she is counting on lawmakers from those states for support. It takes 60 votes to halt a filibuster.

But support even within the Democratic party might be hard to come by. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota, said Tuesday he is still considering whether to support the bill, which contains provisions increasing production of ethanol made in his home state.

The bill also would, for the first time, set up federal reliability standards for high-voltage power-line operators to prevent massive blackouts such as the one last summer.

The bill makes the MTBE liability waiver retroactive to Sept. 5, 2002, and gives MTBE producers $2 billion to help transition the additive out of production. It does not ban the additive, and it does not give state or local governments extra cleanup funding.

David Reynolds, director of federal affairs for the Association of California Water Agencies, called MTBE pollution in California ``as pervasive a water contamination problem as perchlorate.'' He along with leaders of the National League of Cities and U.S. Conference of Mayors, who said their cities and counties will be stuck with huge cleanup costs, urged senators to support a filibuster.

Lisa Friedman, [phone]

lisa.friedman(at)langnews.com