The second largest MTBE case in Maryland occurred in Baltimore County, about 10 miles from Fallston, where a 26,000-gallon gasoline spill was reported at a Jacksonville-area Exxon station. The February 2006 spill is among several MTBE cases, including one at an elementary school in Forest Hill and another at a Randallstown development, monitored by the Maryland Department of the Environment.
When low levels of MTBE were detected at her Fallston home in 2006, Beth F. Scheir, who lives north of the station, said her family switched to bottled water for several months. A carbon filtration system was installed in her home in 2004 to purify the well water.
Although MTBE levels in the Fallston area have receded, frustration has not. Residents are angry at Exxon and government agencies over the handling of the contamination and for keeping it secret for more than a decade.
That anger has festered into lawsuits. Almost four years later, none of the lawsuits filed against Exxon and the former Upper Crossroads station owner has gone to trial.
MTBE, which was introduced to burn gasoline cleaner, is no longer used. Refineries voluntarily stopped using it in 2006 after several states banned the additive and multiple lawsuits were filed, said Herbert Meade, administrator of the oil control program for the state's environment agency.
The chemical has been linked to cancer in laboratory animals, but its toxicity to humans at low levels has never been determined.
The MTBE leaked from the Fallston station's underground storage tanks in the form of vapors and traveled into the groundwater, Meade said. There were 34 vapor leaks.
After the Upper Crossroads station closed in 2005, Exxon ripped out the underground tanks, removed contaminated soil and installed a pumping machine that has treated about 4.5 million gallons of water, Meade said.
In an e-mailed statement, Exxon spokeswoman Nair, wrote that the company has been following a corrective plan approved by the state environmental agency.
Residents are hoping that one of their complaints will be classified as a class action lawsuit. They want Exxon to pay for medical monitoring and damages.
"There are health ramifications for people who have been exposed for who knows how long," said Ted Flerlage, an attorney with the firm of Peter G. Angelos, which filed one of the lawsuits against Exxon.
