WASHINGTON (AP) – House Republicans on Friday proposed an $11.4 billion fund, about a one-third of the money coming from the oil industry, to pay for cleanup of water systems contaminated by the gasoline additive MTBE, hoping to clear the way for passage of a broad energy bill.

The proposal would give makers of MTBE, which has been found to contaminate drinking water supplies in at least 36 states, protection against product liability lawsuits brought by communities facing billions of dollars in cleanup costs.

Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, presented the proposal to Senate leaders involved in energy bill negotiations. They reserved comment on the plan, saying it needed closer examination.

“We’ve not passed judgment. We’re trying to understand it,” said Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., the leading Democrat on the Senate group negotiating with the House on final energy legislation.

Barton, who is chairman of the energy conference, said the proposal is “not set in concrete” and that it could change.

The MTBE issue has been seen as the most difficult and most contentious issue to overcome as lawmakers try to approve an energy bill. A number of senators have pledged to block legislation that would shield the MTBE manufacturers from liability lawsuits.

More than 150 lawsuits seek damages because of MTBE water contamination. The cost of cleanup has ranged from several billion dollars to more than $30 billion.

MTBE, or methyl tertiary-butyl ether, is an additive that in the 1990s became used widely in gasoline as an oxygenate to help reduce air pollution. It since has been found to contaminate drinking water across much of the country when gasoline leaks from underground storage tanks.

On Thursday, Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe and 20 other senators had asked the Environmental Protection Agency for more information Thursday about an internal paper that has not been made public but reportedly concludes that MTBE may cause cancer.

But the draft EPA paper, described as a preliminary document that has not been peer-reviewed, raises broader health concerns from MTBE than widely assumed, according to opponents of the proposed liability shield.

“The possibility that MTBE could have harmful health effects highlights the urgency of implementing an alternative to its use,” said Snowe of Maine, the only GOP lawmaker to sign the letter.