Methanex is a Vancouver based, publicly-traded company engaged in the worldwide production and marketing of methanol.
they are also the d!ckholes that wasted the money of the gvmt of california by fighting the state's MBTE ban. dicks.

Lensovet;

MTBE contamination of groundwater was only tip of the iceberg.
MTBE was blended into gasoline as oxygenate and octane boosting component in quantities of about 3-4%. It is only marginally more troublesome then other gasoline components, but it smells and tastes bad in drinking water. As such it served same role as smelly mercaptanes added to NG to detect leaks. Three things exasperated the problem:
a)Millions of households in N. America use uppermost ground water layer as drinking water supply. This water layer could be easily contaminated.
b)Hundreds of thousands of leaking gasoline, diesel, and oil tanks are buried underground all across America. California law, for example, actually defines a "non-leaky" tank as one that leaks less than five gallons a day.
c)MTBE (and only MTBE, not gasoline) contamination represent perfect subject for litigation law suits.

So, removal of MTBE from gasoline allows “innocent Americans” to enjoy gasoline contaminated yet fresh-tasting drinking water for years to come. Sometimes this water is spiced-up by Coli from neighboring cesspool.

MTBE is still used worldwide, notably in Europe, where governments prefer to prevent gasoline leaks rather then make gasoline more drinkable.

MTBE article in Wikipedia describes the subject quite in detail. Two additions, thought:

Use of multi-stage Reverse Osmosis water purification units is the must for every household with individual drinking water supply.

Addition of MTBE to gasoline allowed blend-in additional quantities of other vice too volatile butane. All in all, for summer driving season it contributed up to 5% of additional non-oil “gasoline” to the market. Disproportional spike in gasoline prices (relative to price of crude oil) in summer driving season of 2005 was largely attributed to removal of this resource. For summer driving season of 2006 increased production of corn ethanol substituted for this deficit, which somehow influenced reduction in gasoline prices. For 2007 it is expected that domestic ethanol production will suffice to satisfy oxygenate requirements for summer gasoline blends.

from the same wikipedia aritcle:
MTBE is not classified as a human carcinogen in low exposure levels by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).[6] However, it has been shown to cause kidney lesions in animals. As an ether, MTBE acts as an emulsifier, increasing the solubility of other, harmful components of gasoline (for example, the known carcinogen benzene). It thus may increase the risk of contamination by other compounds. MTBE is biodegraded very slowly, remaining in water for decades or more. In addition some MTBE degrades in blood to the associated alcohol, tert-butanol, with a greatly increased residence time. The prolonged presence of this alcohol derivative is not fully understood.