ENER BAD GAS SOLD AT REGULAR FILLING STATIONS

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Telyn

Contributing Member

California drivers may have filled cars with bad gas for years, officials say​

www.sfgate.com

California drivers may have filled cars with bad gas for years, officials say

California drivers may have their filled cars with contaminated gas siphoned from junk cars for years, officials said.
www.sfgate.com www.sfgate.com
Drivers across California may have been unknowingly filling their cars with contaminated gas from scrap yards for years, officials said, unveiling a statewide scheme that’s suspected to have illegally generated hundreds of thousands of dollars.
amb Fuels, Inc., a petroleum transportation company based in Southern California, was accused of illegally siphoning fuel from wrecked and abandoned vehicles, treating it, and selling it to multiple gas stations across the state, a Jan. 29 press release from the California Department of Toxic Substances Control said.
Company CEO Gregory Lamb, vice president Kezin Parabia and general manager Jeffrey Lisowski “grossly profited from this widespread, sophisticated scheme” from 2012 to 2021, according to the department. The recent criminal complaint filed against the company and its employees shows just how widespread the alleged scheme may have been: The DTSC said that it affected communities throughout California, including disadvantaged areas like East Oakland and the Central Valley.
“Most of the gas stations that received this contaminated fuel are located in communities that have historically suffered from environmental injustices and are already overly burdened by pollution,” the release reads. At the time of publication, press representatives with the DTSC were unable to answer SFGATE’s questions about how many drivers were potentially affected.
Gasoline begins to degrade in three to six months, while diesel last for about a year, car company J.D. Power wrote in a 2020 blog post. And if you unknowingly fuel your car with bad gas, it can lead to a host of problems: Your car might fail to start, or, worst case scenario, stall to a stop while moving since it can’t process the gas correctly. This fuel might also appear darker and muddier and emit a foul odor, the blog post continues, and if it’s not removed in time, it can damage the car’s internal engine components. Starting in 2019, Lamb Fuels allegedly collected thousands of gallons of waste fuel from recycling scrap yards in Los Angeles and Monterey County, the complaint says. Then, in November of that year, Lamb Fuels allegedly dropped off more than 1,700 gallons of waste fuel at a gas station in Woodland, a small city in Yolo County, the document continued. One gas station in Los Angeles allegedly received as much as 5,000 gallons of waste fuel, while other gas stations throughout Sacramento, Lemon Grove and Poway were also affected.
Used auto part shops in the Bay Area may have also played a key role in the scheme, according to the complaint.
Lamb Fuels was accused of illegally treating toxic waste from Pick-n-Pull locations throughout the Bay Area and from Planet Auto in Oakland, a shop near the Coliseum that promises cash for cars, according to its website. Waste fuel was also transported to the Grand Petroleum gas station in East Oakland, the document said — a seemingly beleaguered station that has one star on Google Reviews and a disconnected phone line. The document also accused Lamb Fuels of dropping off more than 2,400 gallons at another Grand Petroleum station in Hayward. Neither could be reached for comment.
“I expect you to know our drops locations in EVERY region,” said a January 2016 email attached to the complaint from Parabia to Lamb Fuels’ director of marketing. “… By the end of the week, you need to reach out to everyone on this list and introduce yourself… they are the most important part of business!! Without them EVERYTHING STOPS.”
Subsequently, Lamb Fuels made nearly a million dollars in 2021, the complaint said. The company and the three other defendants — Lamb, Parabia and Lisowski — face multiple felony counts of conspiracy and treatment of hazardous waste. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 7, according to the news release.
“We have zero tolerance for people who knowingly and recklessly violate our hazardous waste laws, which are some of the strongest in the country,” DTSC Director Meredith Williams said in the release. “We are appalled by the gross negligence of Lamb Fuels and its management, who have demonstrated complete disregard for the environment and public safety.”
Lamb Fuels, Pick-n-Pull and Planet Auto representatives did not respond to SFGATE’s requests for comment.





Feb 2, 2024
 
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Publius

TB Fanatic
No need to siphon just lift the car with a forklift and punch a hole in the gas tank and have a barrel to catch it.
The barrel is then lifted with the forklift to a much bigger tank say a 1000 gallon skid tank and drain it into the skid tank.
They make pumps for transferring gasoline that can be hooked up to such tanks and move a good deal of fuel fast.
The gasoline is just about pure profit seeing how they have very little money into it.
 
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toxic avenger

Senior Member
Publius said:
No need to siphon just lift the car with a forklift and punch a hole in the gas tank and have a barrel to catch it.
The barrel is then lifted with the forklift to a much bigger tank say a 1000 gallon skid tank and drain it into the skid tank.
They make pumps for transferring gasoline that can be hooked up to such tanks and move a good deal of fuel fast.
The gasoline is just about pure profit seeing how they have very little money into it.
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Not feasible for junk yards to puncture the tanks to drain them- they can’t sell the tanks with holes in them
 
L

Luddite

Veteran Member
The solution to pollution is dilution. I find it hard to believe it seriously degraded overall quality.

IIRC, a major supplier near here was accused of adding water to his huge bulk tanks. For argument sake 500 gallons of water in a 50000 gallon tank mixed before the morning deliveries would be astronomical profit. Until somebody catches it...
 
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223shootersc

Veteran Member
toxic avenger said:
When low flashpoint fuels are collected by reputable environmental or recycling companies, the fuels are either sold as off -spec fuel, incinerator fuel, or sent to refineries for reprocessing.

The only reason the government got involved is they didn’t get their taxes and fees. As usual.
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The fuel in these cars is still good and as long as it has a reuse value which it did it is not a waste much less a hazardous waste. The EPA not getting their cut and probably some politicians is the reason they are going after these people. That and they probably didn't obtain the right license from the state and EPA to do this. If they had of done it correctly the EPA probably would have gave them a reuse award.
 
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