March 22, 2005
Re: MTBE
Legislative Package
Dear Fellow Citizen:
I wanted to
send you a status on my 2005 Legislative Package concerning MTBE.
The House
Environmental Matters Committee deliberated on my package of bills and reported
three bills out of Committee which have passed the House floor and they are
scheduled for a public hearing in the Senate on March 29. These three bills are: HB355 - Nontransient Noncommunity Water
Systems - MTBE - Testing. Nontransient water systems are systems which serves at
least twenty-five of the same individuals over six months per year. Each nontransient noncommunity water system including those systems that
primarily provide bottled water shall, at a frequency determined by the
Department, test the water provided by the system for the presence of
MTBE. If the level tested exceeds the
state advisory level, the persons regularly served by the water system shall be
informed, along with the parents or guardians of any minors served by the water
system.
The second
bill, HB373 -
Environment - MTBE - Clean Gasoline Alternatives - Report
requires the Maryland Department of Environment to develop and submit a report
on the viability of alternatives to the use of MTBE in gasoline sold in the
State of Maryland including the availability of other oxygenates, the economic
implications of using other oxygenates, and the environmental impacts on the
State using other oxygenates. This bill,
hopefully, will provide us a platform to evaluate phasing out MTBE use in the
State of
The third
bill, HB374 - Oil
Discharge - Groundwater Contamination - Notification outlines the establishment
of a notification procedure for alerting residents within a half-mile radius of
groundwater monitoring results. It
requires within fourteen days of finding a level in excess of State advisory
levels, the Department shall notify appropriate local Health Department of a
finding that a groundwater monitoring well sample taken from a high-risk
groundwater use area, contains MTBE in excess of 20 parts per billion benzene
at or in excess of 5 parts per billion, or a combination of benzene, toluene,
ethyl benzene, and xylene, at or in excess of 100
parts per billion. The local health
department shall notify each owner of the property within one-half mile of the
site from which the sample was taken.
The bill requires that notice be mailed by certified mail and the notice
include information regarding the amount of contamination at the site and
provides that the responsible party will reimburse the local health department
for the cost of this notification.
MTBE Letter
Page 2
These three
bills are a good start in an area which needs much more public scrutiny and
regulation. Please continue to pass on
any thoughts or suggestions that you might have. I have been honored by the amount of support
and technical assistance that residents in the area of Upper Crossroads have
provided me in
Thank you
for your attention to this matter and I will be in touch with you as more
information becomes available.
With every
good wish I remain,
Very
truly yours,
Barry
Glassman
Chairman
BG/kel