MTBE Research Supported by the TSR&TP

California's Phaseout of MTBE - Background and Current Status

Powerpoint presentation by Gordon Schremp of the California Energy Commission to the TSR&TP Advisory Committee, March 17, 2003


TSR&TP's MTBE Research Program

In October 1997 SB 521 was signed into law appropriating funds to the University of California for a one-time grant competition for research on the effects of MTBE. On October 21st the TSR&TP issued an RFP and received 21 proposals. Six proposals covering all 12 of the mandated subject areas were funded. Research began in January of 1998 and was completed in November.

A number of links to related work and reports are at the end of this page.


Final Report Delivered to Governor's Office 11/12/98

The final report was delivered to the governor's office on November 12, 1998. The executive summary and full report are available along with the press advisory and a short fact sheet. All the documents are in pdf format.

June 16 MTBE Workshop at UC Davis

On June 16, 1998 the UC TSR&TP held a workshop for the recipients of SB 521 research grants. The abstracts for the 17 presentations to the workshop are available from this site.

TSR&TP Sponsored MTBE Research at UC Davis

Of the six MTBE research proposals funded by the UC Systemwide Toxic Substances Research & Teaching Program (TSR&TP) under Senate Bill 521, the proposal from UC Davis included co-funding from the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Superfund Basic Research Program at UC Davis for a public outreach segment.

One of the goals of the public outreach effort was to establish an MTBE website to help disseminate disinterested third-party information about MTBE and to provide updates on MTBE-research at UCD to the public. The outreach effort also has a the goal of providing information for junior and senior high school students for projects. An experiment on MTBE taste and odor that is suitable for a high school science class will be developed and implemented at a later date. The experiment will illustrate principles of toxicology and comparative risk. The MTBE website is being hosted by the TSR&TP so the public will be able to follow the UCD MTBE research and emerging MTBE issues.


MTBE Workshop at UCLA February 1998

UCLA, the UC TSR&TP, CERR, and SCSRA cosponsored an MTBE workshop on the UCLA campus February 28, 1998. The goal of the workshop was to provide a forum for scientists to present and exchange information regarding the environmental impact and use of oxygenated fuels in California. This workshop was intended, in part, to help the TSR&TP MTBE grantees coordinate their research efforts.

A review of this workshop is available in the Winter/Spring 1998 Issue of the TSR&TP Toxic News newsletter.


MTBE Links