MTBE PUBLIC HEARINGS, UC DAVIS RESEARCH PROJECTS, UNDERWAY As public debate continues over the use of the fuel oxygenate MTBE, researchers, including several from UC Davis, will discuss findings from the UC report "Health and Environmental Assessment of MTBE" at public hearings to be held this month. The hearings, being convened by the California Environmental Protection Agency, are intended to allow the public to comment on the report, which UC researchers delivered to the governor's office in November. The hearings will be held Friday, Feb. 19, at the South Coast Air Quality Management District in Diamond Bar, Calif., and Tuesday, Feb. 23, at the Sacramento Convention Center. Meanwhile, UC Davis researchers continue to study the fuel additive's effect on the environment -- work that stems from the MTBE Public Health and Environmental Protection Act of 1997, which directed UC to research MTBE's health and environmental effects. In a pilot project being conducted with Environmental Resolutions Inc. near Healdsburg, Calif., scientists are studying the use of an experimental technology to treat MTBE-contaminated water above ground. In another project this spring, researchers will inject into soil and water an MTBE-degrading microbial strain identified last year and believed to be useful for removing MTBE more quickly than other methods. The work with the MTBE-devouring microbe, partially funded by the UC Office of the President and by the Oxygenated Fuels Association, will be conducted at Port Hueneme in conjunction with Lawrence Livermore National Lab researchers and the U.S. Navy.