Nevada to consider using controversial gas additive

The Health District voted Thursday to let the Nevada Environmental Commission decide whether gasoline treated with a controversial additive should be sold during the summer in Clark County.

Fuel containing the additive methyl tertiary butyle ether (MTBE) is currently used in California. Scientific reports have indicated that it may have played a part in contaminating ground water in certain communities there and possibly resulted in the closure of some Santa Monica wells.

Nevada law requires that alternative fuels be used. Gasoline containing MTBE has been proven to cut vehicle tailpipe emissions by 30 percent, Naylor said.

Last month the Health District learned that gasoline containing MTBE had leaked from underground storage tanks at a Circle K convenience store/service station near the intersections of Alta Drive and Valley View Boulevard.

The gasoline had been used during the winter months throughout Clark County from 1988-95. It is now only used in about 1 percent of oxygenated fuel during the summer, primarily in racing fuels and on special request at some service stations.

The board's vote gives the Environmental Commission until March 1, 1999, to decide whether regulations should be mandated for summer use of MTBE gasoline, if it deems it to be safe.

Michael Naylor, director of the Health District's Air Pollution Control Division, said the district's authority only applies to air pollution. Ground water comes under the jurisdiction of the Environmental Commission.

"We had 11 days this summer where there were heavy (gasoline) particulates in the air," Naylor said. "It will be a judgment call whether MTBE will be a risk to the environment."

To date 180 service stations in and around Clark County have been cited for underground spills. But Todd Croft, an environmental scientist with the state Division of Environmental Protection, says the public's drinking water supply is not in danger of contamination.

Croft said the spills reach down about 30 feet. Drinking water wells are located several hundred feet below the surface. He warned, however, that about 7,000 private wells throughout Clark County, which are usually more shallow, could be in danger.

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