Executive Summary

On May 26, 2001, Environment Canada published a Notice in the Canada Gazette requiring the reporting of information on the use and releases of methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) in Canada. This report is based on the information provided by companies in response to the Notice in July 2001. The report summarizes findings from the Notice, including an assessment of the extent to which MTBE has been detected in ground water and drinking water in Canada, and lays out the steps being taken by the federal government to address the issue.

Twenty three responses¹ to the CEPA 1999 Notice were submitted to Environment Canada. MTBE was reported as having been detected in ground water at two hundred and fifty locations and in every province in Canada². Among the two hundred and fifty locations, six were sites where ground water was used as a source of drinking water. All six sites were located in PEI. In all six cases, the concentration of MTBE was at levels below the United States Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) consumer advisory level of 20 to 40 parts per billion. Data later provided to Environment Canada indicated that as a result of remediation, MTBE was no longer detected at three of the six locations. In Canada, as in other jurisdictions, ground water contamination with MTBE is believed to be linked to releases of gasoline from storage tanks systems.

In 1998, gasoline containing MTBE accounted for 10% of the Canadian gasoline pool. This fell to 2% in 2000, was projected to drop to less than 1% by the end of 2001, and to decrease further in subsequent years. By the end of 2002, use of gasoline containing MTBE in Canada was projected to fall by 95% from the 1998 peak. However, contamination of ground water resulting from the past use of MTBE may persist for some time due to its slow rate of degradation in the environment.

Only one company, Alberta Envirofuels, reported producing MTBE in Canada. It reported that it would cease production of MTBE in 2002 and instead produce iso-octane. Eleven refining and marketing companies reported having used MTBE; only Irving Oil and North Atlantic Refining indicated that they intended to continue producing gasoline containing MTBE after 2001. Both of these Atlantic refiners export reformulated gasoline, which must contain oxygenate, to the U.S. While North Atlantic Refining reported that it plans to continue marketing gasoline containing MTBE in Canada, Irving Oil has indicated that it will not.

While addressing contaminated sites is primarily an area of provincial jurisdiction, the federal government plans to coordinate a number of actions to address the issues related to MTBE contamination. Given the substantial decrease in use of MTBE in Canada, the following initiatives, falling into three areas, are considered appropriate:

1. Preventing releases of MTBE into the environment:
   • Codes of practice for underground and above ground storage tanks developed in 1993 by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) are being updated (expected to be published in 2003).
   • New federal regulations are being developed to put technical requirements such as leak detection in place for all tanks under federal jurisdiction (expected to be completed in 2003).
     
2. Detecting ground water and drinking water contamination:
   • On a broader level, Environment Canada will continue to study and report on the use of MTBE in gasoline in Canada in order to monitor potentially affected regions;
   • Environment Canada will monitor MTBE contamination of ground and drinking water across Canada through information provided to the department by provinces and territories.
     
3. Remediating contaminated sites:
   • The CCME is developing Canadian water quality guidelines for the protection of aquatic life and the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Subcommittee on Drinking Water is developing Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality for MTBE. These guidelines may be used to guide clean up for cases where standards do not exist (expected to be completed in 2003-2004).

These actions will provide an ongoing understanding of MTBE usage in Canada, mitigate the potential for further MTBE releases, and give guidance for remediation of contaminated sites.

• ¹ Several nil responses were also submitted.
• ² There were no releases reported in the three territories.