mr. chairman , i rise in support of the capps amendment . 
this is really about what are we really doing here in congress . 
are we here to protect the profits of oil companies , or are we here to protect the states and communities from which we come ? 
let me just tell my colleagues the story as it applies to me . 
in 1995 , reformulated gas containing mtbe entered the marketplace in maine . 
two years later , the maine bureau of health reported that they found mtbe in 7 percent of maine 's public water supplies . 
one year later , in 1998 , it was found in 16 percent of maine 's water supplies . 
so that is how we learned about mtbe . 
but let us just go back 15 years , go back 15 years . 
in 1981 , shell engineers were joking that mtbe stood for most things biodegrade easier , or menace threatening our bountiful environment , or major threat to better earnings . 
we have had a discussion here about what members of congress knew back in the 1990s . 
what we know now is that the industry knew in the early 1980s that this was a hazard to groundwater and they went ahead and put it in the gasoline anyway . 
so now the question is , who pays ? 
the manufacturers or the taxpayers in all of our communities ? 
the majority is saying the taxpayers should pay . 
well , there is a court in manhattan yesterday , new york federal district court refused to dismiss 80 lawsuits brought on the ground that the majority is trying to eliminate , and the judge said , innocent water providers and , ultimately , innocent water users , should not be denied relief from the contamination of their water supply if defendants breached a duty to avoid an unreasonable risk of harm from their products . 
that lawsuit includes the state of new hampshire as plaintiff , many municipalities , the city of new york . 
so here we are , here we are . 
who will pay ? 
the majority says , certainly not the manufacturers . 
the capps amendment and we say , those responsible should pay . 
