A Good afternoon everyone. If you would, imagine that you are going to spend a day on the lake. When you got there, you looked up into the sky to see, not a bright grinning sun staring back at you, but instead the gray layer of smog that so dominates the central valley. Now, go back and imagine that when you got to the lake, there is a beautiful sun high in the sky, but instead, now there is a strange turpentine like odor radiating from the lake.
             B 1.This is the controversy that exists over the oxygenate additive in gasoline know as Methyl Tertiart Butyl Ether, or otherwise know as MTBE.
             2.MTBE has a positive effect upon our air Quality, but creates a substantial threat upon our drinking water.
             C Foreshadow: 1. There are many benefits to MTBE, but all of witch come with
             severe risks to the environment and to your own personal health.
             2. These risks even land in our back yard, fortunately there are possible solutions.
             3. But, before I get into all that, let me give you a brief background of MTBE.
             A Chemical composition and production:
             1. MTBE is a chemical additive placed in gasoline that, essentially make it burn cleaner. 2. Original developed in the 1970's to boost octane of gasoline. It was then found to improve combustion and reduce tailpipe pollution
             3. It is a petroleum refining byproduct; in other words, it is a substance created by the refining process of oil to gasoline.
             4. MTBE is an oxygenate because it adds oxygen to gasoline.
             B 1. First placed in fuel after passage of the Clean Air Act of 1990.
             2. The act mandated that gasoline in the smoggiest parts of the country, including the central valley, have at least a 2.7% blend of oxygen. That means about 15% MTBE.
             C 1. MTBE is not the only oxygenate that manufactures may chose. There is also Ethanol.
             Ethanol is a type of alcohol made from corn, th
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