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he Environmental Protection Agency said it rejected waivers requested by several states to stop using gasoline additives linked to air pollution.

California, New York and Connecticut — failed to show that rules requiring gasoline additives—ethanol or methyl tertiary butyl ether — were an impediment to meeting air quality standards, EPA assistant administrator Jeffrey Holmstead said in a statement Thursday.

California, which first sought a waiver in 1999, argued that the gasoline formula it requires is superior to a fuel blended with additives to meet federal regulations, Bloomberg reported.

A waiver would lead to less pollution, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said in a statement Thursday. She said she would meet with EPA officials next week to review more options.

A bill passed by the House in April would replace the oxygenate rule, passed as part of the 1990 Clean Air Act, with a requirement that as much as 8 billion gallons of additives be added by 2012 to ease petroleum demand.