CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Nearly a decade after it was first brought, a lawsuit accusing two oil giants of widespread groundwater contamination in New Hampshire is expected to present jurors with the most complex and time-consuming trial in the state’s history.The products liability case against the oil companies, Exxon Mobil and Citgo, is to go to trial in mid-January. In 2003, New Hampshire sued 26 oil companies and subsidiaries, claiming the gasoline additive M.T.B.E., or methyl tertiary butyl ether, caused groundwater contamination in a state where 60 percent of the population relies on private wells for drinking water.New Hampshire is seeking more than $700 million in damages to test and monitor every private well and public drinking water system in the state and to cover cleanup costs where needed, according to court documents. The additive M.T.B.E that is put into gasoline is both good and bad because it helps to keep down smog and emissions from the atmosphere. But it is also bad because if gasoline is leaked into the ground or a spill occurs then there is a very high chance that it will contaminate the drinking water. So even though the additive helps with the emissions i do not think that it is worth contaminating a whole states drinking water.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/30/us/2-oil-giants-face-trial-in-new-hampshire-water-pollution-suit.html?ref=earth&_r=0
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