Home Delivery

A win for the water

Suffolk suit over MTBE brings in $$$

May 9, 2008

Article tools

E-mail

Share
- Digg
- Del.icio.us
- Facebook
- Fark
- Google
- Newsvine
- Reddit
- Yahoo

Critics of the Suffolk County Legislature like to say it's too quick to sue. But it sued the oil industry for fouling our water with the oxygenating gasoline additive MTBE, and now it gets the last laugh. Most of the defendants have agreed to settle. The county itself will get only about $1 million, but the Suffolk County Water Authority is getting $73.4 million.

That will help clean Suffolk's water supply and help stabilize water rates, because much of the money will go toward the rising cost of filtration, which until now has fallen entirely on ratepayers. It's major vindication for the Suffolk Legislature, especially Legis. Cameron Alden (R-Islip), who pushed for the suit in 2001 - along with a Democratic legislator who has since died, Maxine Postal of Amityville. It's welcome news, too, for water agencies in Nassau that were parties to the suit.

And it's especially good news for the water authority, which joined the suit at the legislature's request. The agency has far more wells than the county does, and it has a state-of-the-art laboratory that helped it to track MTBE. The additive's job is to help gas burn more cleanly, but it leaks from underground tanks and spreads fast. The authority found it in untreated water in 450 of its 600 wells.

So it's helpful that the authority is receiving the largest single share of a nationwide settlement of almost $424 million. Its pivotal data-gathering role in this case, due to the breadth of its service area and its technical expertise, argues well for the value of large, consolidated water districts.

This settlement reinforces the principle that the polluter pays. The most mammoth accused polluter, ExxonMobil, has not settled. But it faces a trial this fall. Stay tuned.

Get breaking news | Most popular stories | Dining and Travel deals all via e-mail!

Would you recommend this?

Rate it: