Press Release 10/18/2006
Contact: Public Affairs (404) 656-3689
Pumps locked awaiting lab results
Water in gasoline tanks stalls several vehicles at Cumming Racetrac Tues.
Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin confirms today that more than a half-dozen vehicles were disabled Tuesday afternoon after their tanks were filled with contaminated regular gasoline at the Racetrac, 888 Buford Highway, Cumming.
Department of Agriculture inspectors report they found water in the gasoline in all pumps selling regular gasoline Tuesday and during a re-inspection on Wednesday morning.
“We had an inspector on the scene within 45-minutes of it being reported to us,” Irvin says. “A stop-sale order was issued and the nozzles on 18 pumps dispensing regular gasoline were sealed. They will remain locked until we are convinced -- and laboratory tests confirm -- there is no water in the pumps, lines or storage tanks.”
Tuesday afternoon, state agriculture inspectors pulled samples of three grades of gasoline -- regular, mid-grade and premium -- at the Cumming Racetrac and found water in the regular-grade gas but found no such contamination in the other two. As of this afternoon, the problem is still being resolved.
“This is not supposed to happen, someone is not doing their job,” Irvin says. “The public has to be confident that when they buy gasoline, there is no water in it.”
Earlier this year, agriculture officials found water in the regular-grade gasoline at the Cumming Racetrac after receiving a complaint from a customer.
Officials speculate that rain water seeped into an underground storage causing Tuesday’s incident.
“I feel confident this problem will be cleared up, and measures will be put in place to ensure that this does not happen again,” Irvin says.
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