Legislators, citizens and one prominent gubernatorial opponent beat on Gov. Angus King over Maine’s use of reformulated gasoline. Three weeks before the election, the governor announces the state will opt out of this federal program. Simple political capitulation, right? Wrong. Like the effects of RFG, nothing is simple in the attempt to leave Maine’s air cleaner.

An unprecedented study this summer of public and private wells throughout Maine found that 99 percent of them met or exceeded the federal safety level for MTBE, a less-polluting replacement for benzene in gasoline. Nevertheless, the small percentage found contaminated extrapolates to between 1,000 and 4,300 unsafe wells statewide. And a disturbing 16 percent of all wells contained detectable levels of MTBE. The governor needed to act on this.

The problem with MTBE is that it is far more likely than other gasoline components to show up and remain in surface and underground water. Components such as benzene, toluene and xylenes, for instance, are more likely than MBTE to cling to soil particles and be absorbed by bacteria in the ground. MBTE, however, does not act this way — it shows up in water faster and stays longer. That means even small spills from a gas station, auto accident or poor household disposal could contaminate a drinking-water supply. Given the difficulty of handling the gasoline additive and the potential that Maine would end up with the possible carcinogen everywhere, looking for an alternative makes sense.

But getting rid of MTBE is not so simple. Politically, the governor’s announcment so close to Election Day could be interpreted as an attempt to take away an issue from GOP opponent Jim Longley, who for months has been charging that the King administration hid the problem from the Legislature. If Gov. KIng held the MBTE decision until after the vote, however, he would have risked looking sneaky. Complicating issue were the various groups that wanted the state to dump RFG, sometimes for the right reasons — groundwater pollution — and sometimes for the wrong ones — dark conspiracies.

More importantly, MTBE appears to have worked extremely well. Maine’s air, like the air over other states where MTBE is used, is measurably cleaner. The additive has resulted in reduced ozone levels, helping put Maine into compliance with federal regulations. And MBTE served the unintended but important function of telling regulators how much gasoline is spilled, leaked or dumped all over Maine. That’s a problem that the state has yet to completely address.

If MTBE goes, the state needs a replacement that will be just as effective environmentally without harming vehicle performance. Ned Sullivan, commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection, says that not only has Maine found an alternative that relies on lower sulfur levels, lower volatility and a cap on benzene — and not an additive — to meet the federal standards, but that he is trying to persuade Congress to change the law that requires the RFG. Instead, he advocates giving the states reduction targets without requiring a particular method for reaching the target. Considering the federal government’s lack of forethought with reformulated gas, a rule change is the least it can do.

As for a replacement, the state has identified two potential sources of the improved, apparently safer gasoline. But many questions about the fuel remain, including whether the state would have an adequate supply, whether it would be priced competitvely and how well it would work in colder weather. It is clear that, after four years, Maine is ready to move to a more advanced fuel than RFG, but its choice of a new fuel needs to be chosen both with care and with plenty of public comment.

Maine has reduced the number of petroleum and gas spills from more than 600 a year in the late 1980s to about 450 annually now. There is no need to panic about the presence of MTBE in water. But there is good reason to recognize that the compound, no matter how effective as a pollution reducer, cannot be used safely without a tremendous change in the way gasoline is shipped, stored and pumped.

Despite the political season, Gov. King chose the practical, nonpolitical answer, which is to change the fuel rather than trying to change the behavior of everyone who comes into contact with it.