BADFISH II
08-08-2002, 07:05 AM
Mike from Rex Marine posted this info over at HotBoat:
If you’re concerned about restrictions on where we will be able to use our boats in future years, read this through. As one of 15 directors of the So Cal Marine Assn, I hear about a lot of stuff that has the potential to disrupt and restrict performance boating as we know it. One subject that comes up in some form at most of our meetings is MTBE in our gasoline, the adverse affect it has on the environment, and the restrictions its contributing to with regards to the use of our lakes and rivers. I realize MTBE has been discussed on these boards before. There’s detailed info on it on the Bluewater website which you should go read… this is really bad shit as chemicals go. It gets into the water supply (lakes and rivers) and basically there’s no way to “treat” it. It just has to be diluted down to “acceptable” levels so we can drink the crap. Now I don’t agree with a lot of things the Bluewater environmentalists are trying to accomplish but I do think this MTBE issue is serious from both a boating standpoint and a health standpoint.
So where am I going with all this? Already 2 strokes have been banned from use on Lake Tahoe and several other lakes in California. 2 strokes have been targeted initially because they dump so much unburned fuel in the water as opposed to 4 strokes. MTBE has also been a “major factor” in the MWD decision to restrict powerboat use on the giant new Eastside Reservoir near Hemet. Restrictions also take effect shortly at Lake Mead and Lake Mohave. While MTBE isn’t the only reason for restrictions it is the main trigger that’s caused the trend. While 2 strokes have been targeted initially, don’t be lulled into believing that 4 strokes won’t become a target next (all the rest of us boaters). I’m already hearing the rumblings of further restrictions.
MTBE was supposed to be eliminated from gas in CA by the end of the year 2002. Well, do to the oil companies whining to the governor that they couldn’t comply, it recently got pushed back to end of 2003. That’s not good news for any of us because it adds fuel to the fires of all the water agencies that are in charge of protecting the drinking water supply. Basically the drinking water supply consists of the vast majority of lakes and rivers we go boating on.
So what can we do? Well about 2 weeks ago Union 76 “voluntarily” removed MTBE from their gasoline (excellent PR move and the right thing to do). There’s no longer any MTBE stickers on their pumps…they’re using ethanol now as an oxygenate instead. Isn’t it interesting that Union 76 is able to remove this crap from their gas but none of the other oil companies can (thus the rollback of the state’s enforcement date)? I’m calling BS on all this. It’s all about dollars, not what’s good for the people. MTBE is not good for any of us, from a boating standpoint or a drinking water standpoint. I wonder what all the other oil companies would do regarding MTBE if substantial numbers of people started buying Union 76 gas instead of theirs? You’d see MTBE vanish from the scene within weeks would be my guess. If MTBE goes away there’s much less motivation for environmentalists to target performance boating with restrictions of our lakes and rivers. I’m not saying there aren’t other problems, just that MTBE is the main one right now that’s fueling their momentum.
Now the entire membership of this forum is only about 4000…not enough to get anyone’s attention if we all started buying only Union 76 tomorrow. But what if we all told 10 friends and they all told 10 friends? Right there you’d have 400000 people. Get another factor of 10 and you’d have 4 million people… now that’s enough to get the oil companies attention real quick. Problem is that few people outside of the boating world even know what MTBE is or that it’s a problem for them… That needs to change and we all need to tell them.
I’d like to hear everyone’s thoughts on this. If we just keep our heads in the sand on issues of this type and stuff like MTBE is allowed to continue to exist because of big oil interests or government inaction, our water available to do what we love to do might become very very limited 5 years down the road, with emission controls being required and who knows what else. This is one of many very real threats to performance boating as we know it today. Make no mistake, if drinking water becomes polluted to the point that it’s deemed unsafe to drink, there will be no boating. It’s just that simple.
If you’re concerned about restrictions on where we will be able to use our boats in future years, read this through. As one of 15 directors of the So Cal Marine Assn, I hear about a lot of stuff that has the potential to disrupt and restrict performance boating as we know it. One subject that comes up in some form at most of our meetings is MTBE in our gasoline, the adverse affect it has on the environment, and the restrictions its contributing to with regards to the use of our lakes and rivers. I realize MTBE has been discussed on these boards before. There’s detailed info on it on the Bluewater website which you should go read… this is really bad shit as chemicals go. It gets into the water supply (lakes and rivers) and basically there’s no way to “treat” it. It just has to be diluted down to “acceptable” levels so we can drink the crap. Now I don’t agree with a lot of things the Bluewater environmentalists are trying to accomplish but I do think this MTBE issue is serious from both a boating standpoint and a health standpoint.
So where am I going with all this? Already 2 strokes have been banned from use on Lake Tahoe and several other lakes in California. 2 strokes have been targeted initially because they dump so much unburned fuel in the water as opposed to 4 strokes. MTBE has also been a “major factor” in the MWD decision to restrict powerboat use on the giant new Eastside Reservoir near Hemet. Restrictions also take effect shortly at Lake Mead and Lake Mohave. While MTBE isn’t the only reason for restrictions it is the main trigger that’s caused the trend. While 2 strokes have been targeted initially, don’t be lulled into believing that 4 strokes won’t become a target next (all the rest of us boaters). I’m already hearing the rumblings of further restrictions.
MTBE was supposed to be eliminated from gas in CA by the end of the year 2002. Well, do to the oil companies whining to the governor that they couldn’t comply, it recently got pushed back to end of 2003. That’s not good news for any of us because it adds fuel to the fires of all the water agencies that are in charge of protecting the drinking water supply. Basically the drinking water supply consists of the vast majority of lakes and rivers we go boating on.
So what can we do? Well about 2 weeks ago Union 76 “voluntarily” removed MTBE from their gasoline (excellent PR move and the right thing to do). There’s no longer any MTBE stickers on their pumps…they’re using ethanol now as an oxygenate instead. Isn’t it interesting that Union 76 is able to remove this crap from their gas but none of the other oil companies can (thus the rollback of the state’s enforcement date)? I’m calling BS on all this. It’s all about dollars, not what’s good for the people. MTBE is not good for any of us, from a boating standpoint or a drinking water standpoint. I wonder what all the other oil companies would do regarding MTBE if substantial numbers of people started buying Union 76 gas instead of theirs? You’d see MTBE vanish from the scene within weeks would be my guess. If MTBE goes away there’s much less motivation for environmentalists to target performance boating with restrictions of our lakes and rivers. I’m not saying there aren’t other problems, just that MTBE is the main one right now that’s fueling their momentum.
Now the entire membership of this forum is only about 4000…not enough to get anyone’s attention if we all started buying only Union 76 tomorrow. But what if we all told 10 friends and they all told 10 friends? Right there you’d have 400000 people. Get another factor of 10 and you’d have 4 million people… now that’s enough to get the oil companies attention real quick. Problem is that few people outside of the boating world even know what MTBE is or that it’s a problem for them… That needs to change and we all need to tell them.
I’d like to hear everyone’s thoughts on this. If we just keep our heads in the sand on issues of this type and stuff like MTBE is allowed to continue to exist because of big oil interests or government inaction, our water available to do what we love to do might become very very limited 5 years down the road, with emission controls being required and who knows what else. This is one of many very real threats to performance boating as we know it today. Make no mistake, if drinking water becomes polluted to the point that it’s deemed unsafe to drink, there will be no boating. It’s just that simple.