LOS ANGELES -- Several oil companies have agreed to pay 423 million U.S. dollars to settle more than 500 lawsuits brought by water suppliers and users in California and 19other states over groundwater contaminated with the gasoline additive MTBE, it was reported Thursday.
The suits alleged that Chevron, BP and other major oil companies were responsible for contamination in underground aquifers in several California areas, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The polluted areas are in the city of Riverside, portions of San Diego and Sacramento counties and elsewhere across the nation, the report said.
The contamination was caused by methyl tertiary butyl ether, or MTBE, which the companies added to gasoline as a way to reduce air pollution.
In California, 11 plaintiffs would receive more than 78 million dollars plus possible reimbursement for future treatment of nearly1,100 wells, according to the report.
The proposed settlement was filed Wednesday with U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin in New York, who will review it.
The six oil companies that didn't agree to settle include ExxonMobil Corp., the world's largest publicly traded company.
Federal regulators have said that MTBE is a possible carcinogen at high doses, and California law limits exposure to 13 parts per billion in water.
It can render water undrinkable because of its offensive smell and taste, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Several states, including California, have banned use of MTBE, and it has been phased out elsewhere since Congress dropped a requirement in 2006 that gasoline have pollution-reducing oxygenates such as MTBE.
Attorney Vic Sher of San Francisco, who is representing 20 of the water districts that sued, said the proposed settlement was "a large step toward making sure that the parties responsible for this problem pay for it, rather than the folks who drink the water and pay the rates."
He added, "The documents and the testimony are pretty darn overwhelming that the companies knew that MTBE was a different kind of water contaminant, and was a water contaminant, and that there were ways the problem could have been avoided."
But attorney Rick Wallace of Washington, D.C., who is a liaison with the court for the 12 companies, said Sher's statements were not true.
"MTBE is not a contaminant ... and this settlement does not say that," he said.
Exxon Mobil spokeswoman Prem Nair said the company would not settle any of the MTBE cases.
"These cases are without merit, and the plaintiffs have not suffered any physical damage, and we will defend this vigorously," she said, adding Sher's charges were "totally inaccurate."
Oil company representatives argued that the requirements of the federal Clean Air Act forced them to use MTBE because there were insufficient supplies of alternatives.
But Sher alleges the companies used the chemical because it was cheaper and that they could have taken more measures to keep MTBE from leaking or seeping out of gas station tanks and pipes.
The suits alleged that Chevron, BP and other major oil companies were responsible for contamination in underground aquifers in several California areas, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The polluted areas are in the city of Riverside, portions of San Diego and Sacramento counties and elsewhere across the nation, the report said.
The contamination was caused by methyl tertiary butyl ether, or MTBE, which the companies added to gasoline as a way to reduce air pollution.
In California, 11 plaintiffs would receive more than 78 million dollars plus possible reimbursement for future treatment of nearly1,100 wells, according to the report.
The proposed settlement was filed Wednesday with U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin in New York, who will review it.
The six oil companies that didn't agree to settle include ExxonMobil Corp., the world's largest publicly traded company.
Federal regulators have said that MTBE is a possible carcinogen at high doses, and California law limits exposure to 13 parts per billion in water.
It can render water undrinkable because of its offensive smell and taste, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Several states, including California, have banned use of MTBE, and it has been phased out elsewhere since Congress dropped a requirement in 2006 that gasoline have pollution-reducing oxygenates such as MTBE.
Attorney Vic Sher of San Francisco, who is representing 20 of the water districts that sued, said the proposed settlement was "a large step toward making sure that the parties responsible for this problem pay for it, rather than the folks who drink the water and pay the rates."
He added, "The documents and the testimony are pretty darn overwhelming that the companies knew that MTBE was a different kind of water contaminant, and was a water contaminant, and that there were ways the problem could have been avoided."
But attorney Rick Wallace of Washington, D.C., who is a liaison with the court for the 12 companies, said Sher's statements were not true.
"MTBE is not a contaminant ... and this settlement does not say that," he said.
Exxon Mobil spokeswoman Prem Nair said the company would not settle any of the MTBE cases.
"These cases are without merit, and the plaintiffs have not suffered any physical damage, and we will defend this vigorously," she said, adding Sher's charges were "totally inaccurate."
Oil company representatives argued that the requirements of the federal Clean Air Act forced them to use MTBE because there were insufficient supplies of alternatives.
But Sher alleges the companies used the chemical because it was cheaper and that they could have taken more measures to keep MTBE from leaking or seeping out of gas station tanks and pipes.
