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ARTICLE · 14 JUNE 2016

More On The Peterborough Oil Case: Is MTBE An "Additive"?

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Since yesterday's post on the Peterborough Oil case, a little birdie told me that MassDEP may be taking the position that MTBE mtbeis covered by the "oil exemption", because it is a hydrocarbon.

United StatesEnvironment
Seth Jaffe
Seth Jaffe
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Since yesterday's post on the Peterborough Oil case, a little birdie told me that MassDEP may be taking the position that MTBE is covered by the "oil exemption", because it is a hydrocarbon.  If so, that would be good news for PRPs, because most cleanups don't involve third parties.  If MassDEP says that MTBE is covered by the exemption, then a PRP cleaning up a site with an "oil" release containing MTBE could still close out the site based on the MassDEP interpretation.

However, I think that that interpretation is at best on shaky ground and if I were litigating a private action where the scope of an MTBE cleanup was at issue, I know which side I'd rather represent.  EPA's MTBE web site states that:

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