FORT LEE, N.J. -- More than 70 cars died on New Jersey roads last Thursday night after six or seven Lukoil gas stations in the Garden State reportedly sold contaminated fuel to customers, said the Associated Press.
The WCBS-TV chopper reported "scores" of vehicles dead with hazard lights flashing on the Palisades Parkway, the news outlet said. Cars were stranded on Route 208 in Fair Lawn, as well as on Route 9W, the Garden State Parkway and the Palisades Parkway, officials said, according to the report.
A close look at the fuel coming out of the pumps showed a thin, almost odorless [image-nocss] substance, not like regular unleaded gasoline at all, the report added. Tow trucks were busy, while drivers were turned away from at least three stations. Some drivers took matters into their hands by siphoning out the gas and trying to fix the problem themselves.
George Wilkins, a spokesperson for East Meadow, N.Y.-based Lukoil Americas Corp., told The Star-Ledger, "Our company experienced water contamination issues at six northern New Jersey stations [caused by] excessive concentrations of water in storage tanks at an exchange partner's terminal."
Wilkins said the incident happened just as distributors were switching from winter-blends of gasoline to summer gasoline, a federal requirement to help stem pollution. The switchover often requires the cleaning of gas storage tanks.
He said the company would make good on repairs and reimbursement for rental cars for affected motorists.
Such fuel contamination is not unheard of, but usually occurs on a much smaller scale. But recently, nearly 40 stations supplied by El Paso, Texas-based Western Refining Inc. in the Santa Fe and Albuquerque, N.M., areas had diesel pumped into gasoline storage tanks, causing problems for possibly hundreds of motorists who filled their vehicles with diesel-contaminated gasoline. The company said it was working with affected motorists to fix the problem.
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