Government & Policy Roundup

◾ Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.) plans to introduce legislation to impose a windfall profits tax on major oil companies, which he says are reaping an extra $7 billion in profits each month because of high oil prices. The bill will provide an exemption for companies that reinvest their profits in new oil and gas exploration and increase refining capacity.

◾ New Jersey has banned methyl tert-butyl ether as a fuel additive in that state, effective in January 2009. Although use of MTBE in gasoline will no longer be required by next summer under the recently passed national energy bill, New Jersey is the 25th state to ban the compound.

◾ Cosmed Group has agreed to pay $1.5 million in fines and future projects in a settlement over violations of federal emissions standards for ethylene oxide. The company, which has eight sterilization facilities, is the first ever charged by EPA for violating the ethylene oxide standard.