Regular gasoline was inadvertently poured into a diesel truck tank at the Speedway gas station,1095 Eaton Ave. in Hamilton and Eric Wishart of Hamilton says he needs a complete fuel system replacement after he pumped gas on Aug. 28. Hamilton resident Toby Howell also complained that he used a diesel pump at the station on Sunday morning and his vehicle was damaged by gasoline.
Reynolds said his office went to investigate the complaints on Monday, but is powerless to force gas stations to shut faulty tanks down because legislation that was introduced in February has stalled. HB 499 would allow county auditors to test for fuel quality and also shut down faulty pumps.
“It was reported within 24 hours that the diesel fuel was tainted. The clerk was supposed to bag the pump and stop selling diesel fuel, but they didn’t and continued to contaminate more vehicle engines and caused more damage,” Reynolds said. “If we had the authority and once we got the call we could have immediately gotten there and bagged the pump.”
A clerk at the Speedway said he could not comment. Corporate officials did not return phone calls.
Reynolds told the Journal-News on Thursday they had gotten three more complaints, one needing a $5,000 repair, and it appears the tank tainting might have happened the previous Thursday.
HB 499 was co-sponsored by Ohio Rep. George Lang, R-West Chester and Rep. Brigid Kelly, D-Cincinnati. There has been one hearing before the House Transportation and Public Safety Committee on May 19. Kelly was the only person to testify.
Lang said there is some opposition from convenience store owners but the bill “wasn’t a priority” for State Rep. Larry Householder, R-Glenford, the former House speaker, but he thinks it could move under the new leadership. However, “there’s a lot of heavy lifting that still has to be done on it.”
Rep. Robert Cupp, R-Lima replaced Householder as speaker after he was indicted for racketeering in a federal public corruption case. Not specifically the gasoline bill, but Lang said it has been difficult to get any business done this summer.
“We had a whole lot of good stuff we were working on, COVID stuff and a whole lot of things and the Householder situation just sucked all the oxygen out of the room,” Lang said. “It put everything on hold for at least four to five weeks. We’re just now starting to get back to doing the good work that people need us to get done.”
Reynolds said he already has staff to handle the gas station monitoring and equipment purchases were estimated at around $12,000.
Ohio Rep. Candice Keller, R-Middletown, said she needs to hear more about the program before she can support it. She thinks it likely won’t be addressed this year.
“It always costs more than you think it’s going to so I can’t sign onto the bill right now,” Keller said. “But maybe when it’s vetted through committee I would consider co-sponsoring it.”
Reynolds said he thinks it’s going to take some of the drivers whose vehicles were ruined by the gas mix-up to get the legislation passed. Tony Childress gassed up at the Speedway on Friday and drove his GMC Sierra Denali for about 45 miles with no problem but after he came home, and parked the vehicle it wouldn’t start when he tried to leave again.
He eventually got it to start but as problems persisted he took it to his mechanic and was told repairs could cost $12,000 to $15,000.
“There has to be a fail-safe in place to prevent (stuff) like this from happening,” Childress said. “Beyond the fuel delivery, there’s got to be something that somebody can do whether it’s testing fuel because who knows what the (heck) they’re putting in these people’s cars. Absolutely I wouldn’t mind reaching out to whomever I need to reach out to and, hopefully, it’s able to go somewhere.”
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