Pity the EPA, their long-running effort to protect us by mandating oxygen additives to gasoline is bust–it turns out it hurt us. MTBE poisoned the groundwater. Ethanol increases harmful emissions. We’ve known this for years, but EPA is only now getting around to pulling the plug. See the story in the LA Times. Of course, Pres. Bush is flogging ethanol as a means to free our selves of mid-east oil. Alas, that strategy is as bust as oxygenates, and probably will take longer to kill.