Always get a receipt when fueling up, providing recourse for tainted gas

The value of having a receipt for the gas they bought at a Texaco station yesterday morning in South Austin TX has become readily apparent to six local residents who pumped tainted gas into their tanks.

The fuel caused their cars to begin stalling within blocks of the convenience store station. Though Texaco has yet to identify the nature of the problem, they are compensating those affected for the gasoline, towing bills as well as cleaning the injectors and fuel system – IF THEY HAVE A RECEIPT!

The report filed on the KXAN TV website by Doug Shupe states the problem is not just water in the underground tank, a relatively easy problem to solve. Though the source or substance tainting the supply is as yet unidentified, the problem was limited to a two-hour period in the morning from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. The operators at the Texaco station shut down the affected pumps as soon as the problem was noted.

Several of the victims of the tainted gas went directly to a nearby repair shop, Tony Palomino’s Auto Smart. Palomino told KXAN, “I checked the gas and it smelled very bad." He implied the pungent aroma of unleaded fuel was diminished and it was a lighter color than it should be, as though it had been diluted in some way.

Lee Country Petroleum, the local distributor for the Texaco outlet, has removed the tainted gas from the underground tank and replaced it with fresh petrol. There are proceeding to reimburse customers for towing, repairs and even rental cars. As far as we know, none of those affected lacked sufficient documentation.

Today, agents from the Texas Dept. of Agriculture came to test the offending fuel. As a matter of pure speculation, what if the underground tank was mistakenly pumped full of E85? That would wreak havoc with engines not built to burn it.

Still in this day and age when air traffic controllers are found sleeping in the tower, pilots are found to be flying under the influence and cruise ship captains run aground in the Mediterranean, what’s makes us think we can take anything for granted? So how can we be sure we’re not putting tainted gas into our tank?

Just one more argument for the electric car for some, though it’s only a matter of time until we discover the flaws in that system as well. Science may or may not be mankind’s brother, but in a general sense it does not solve problems – it rather exchanges one troubling us now for another that will trouble us later – or so it sometimes seems.

In any case, get that receipt and file it somewhere, just in case you buy some tainted gas.