It’s back.

The energy bill that conscientious members of the U.S. Senate were able to defeat last year will likely return – albeit in a scaled-down version – this week.

Senate Energy Committee Chairman Pete Domenici has reduced some of the cost of the bill and eliminated liability protections for the makers of the gasoline additive MTBE, but the bill is still a disaster of polluter subsidies.

And while the changes Domenici has made may make the bill easier to swallow, they aren’t guaranteed. If this legislation is approved on the Senate floor, it will return to a conference committee with the House.

House leaders, namely Majority Leader Tom DeLay, have promised that the MTBE protection will be included in any energy legislation coming out of conference.

The makers of MTBE have been given a free ride by some legislators since its very beginnings. The additive, which was sold on the premise that it would reduce air pollution, is a known animal carcinogen and is particularly prone to contaminating drinking water. Turns out, we were all sold a bad bill of goods. A 1997 study concluded that MTBE did almost nothing to improve air quality for cars made after 1993.

The Department of Environmental Protection estimates as many as 50,000 wells are contaminated by MTBE in Maine alone. National cleanup costs could exceed $30 billion.

And according to a report by the Associated Press, the Bush administration decided not to go forward with a ban on the additive recommended by the Clinton administration despite the threat MTBE poses. A small matter of $1 million in campaign contributions might have had some impact on the decision.

Makers shouldn’t get off the hook again.

Maine, which is considering a ban of the chemical, should move forward and join a growing list of states in demanding that gas be MTBE-free.

Beyond the issue of MTBE liability, the energy bill continues to subsidize the dirty Midwestern industrial plants that ship their pollution right into Maine and delays deadlines for them to clean up. The effects are dangerous for everybody who lives here.

A report released last week by the New England Asthma Regional Council says that 13.2 percent of the state’s children have been diagnosed with asthma. The rate is the worst in New England and is at least partially attributable to pollution from out of state.

Last year, both Sen. Susan Collins and Sen. Olympia Snowe opposed the energy bill. It’s a difficult position for them, but hopefully they will stand firm again.

The only surefire way to protect Maine from this energy bill is to stop it on the floor of the Senate. That’s where the fight must be won.


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