260,000 Gallons Of Tainted Gas Distributed To These FL Gas Stations

TAMPA BAY, FL — Residents who topped off their gas tanks at a gas station Saturday or Sunday in preparation for evacuating ahead of Hurricane Idalia might be in trouble. (See the list of gas stations that received the contaminated fuel at the bottom of this story.)

During a news conference Monday afternoon in Pinellas County, Gov. Ron DeSantis said diesel fuel was accidentally mixed with gasoline at the Citgo terminal at Port Tampa Bay and then distributed to 29 service stations around the state.

"It was just human error," said DeSantis. "The workers put diesel in tanks that were supposed to be for regular gasoline."

DeSantis said Florida Secretary of Agriculture Wilton Simpson is investigating how widespread the problem is and how it might affect residents who filled their tanks with the gas. He's asked service stations affected by the contamination to stop selling gas until the contaminated fuel is replaced and the tanks are cleaned.

DeSantis said this could be a major problem as thousands of residents who are now under mandatory evacuation orders hit the highway Monday and Tuesday in search of a safe haven ahead of Hurricane Idalia. He said drivers with contaminated fuel could find themselves stalled along a major highway.

"Obviously, if you have a tank of gas and it’s 90 percent regular and 10 percent diesel, the dilution probably may not ruin your car," DeSantis said. "But, I mean, if you fill up your tank with diesel and you start driving it, it’s not going to end well.”

The National Motorists Association agreed. Association writer Scott Huntington said the mixture could harm the engine. He advises drivers who believe they filled up on the contaminated gas not to start their engine until they've had the tank flushed by a mechanic.

"Both diesel and gasoline are fuels derived from crude oil," he said."Diesel is both more stable and more energy-dense than gasoline (which is why diesel has such great fuel economy). As a result, diesel needs more compression than gasoline to ignite. Most often, diesel engines are compression engines, and gasoline engines are spark-ignition engines."

He said diesel is also a lubricant, while gasoline is not. If gasoline makes its way into a diesel engine, it can jam the fuel pumps and the injectors.

"So gasoline will gum up the works in a few different ways, all of which can be expensive to repair," Huntington said.

Citgo said it was made aware of the error on Saturday and is working on remedies.

"Citgo discovered contaminated product at its Tampa, Florida, terminal as a result of a product routing issue at the terminal and immediately shut down the rack," said the company in a statement. "All Citgo marketers who lifted gasoline and diesel from the terminal between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. have been notified and asked to stop sales. A limited number of retail locations are affected, and Citgo is currently coordinating efforts to remove the product from the retail locations that received it.

These include non-Citgo stations like BJ's Wholesale, 7-Eleven and Handy Foods Store. See the complete list of service stations below provided by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs.

The company added that it is conducting a full investigation into this incident. Citgo did not say how much contaminated gas was distributed to stations but a typical gas tanker truck carries about 9,000 gallons of gasoline. And a typical gas station storage tank holds about 10,000 gallons of gas. That means that service stations could have conceivably received 261,000 gallons of contaminated gas.

"We also remain committed to maintaining the quality of our fuels and ensuring customer confidence in our products and the Citgo brand," Citgo said. "If a consumer believes they purchased contaminated fuel on or after Saturday, Aug. 26, they can initiate a claim through the CITGO Good Gas Guarantee program.

In the meantime, DeSantis said he's making sure that Florida has plenty of gas on hand to serve all the residents who must evacuate.

"We have a lot of fuel, about 200,000 gallons of fuel on the way to Florida that will be pre-staged so there may not be major interruptions in fuel supplies," DeSantis said.

Nevertheless, he reminded residents that "mandatory evacuation" doesn't mean they have to travel hundreds of miles to reach safety.

"You only need to evacuate tens of miles away, not hundreds of miles," he said. "There are plenty of hotels on higher ground around Tampa Bay that can withstand the hurricane. You don't need to travel hundreds of miles. Just get to higher ground and away from the threats, most of which will be from storm surge."

In anticipation, a number of national hotel chains are offering discounts to residents fleeing the hurricane.

Gas stations that received contaminated gas include:

• Big Dan’s Car Wash: 39522 U.S. 19 N., Tarpon Springs
• 7-Eleven: 3437 U.S. 19, Holiday
• 7-Eleven: 13411 FishHawk Blvd., Lithia
• 7-Eleven: 4325 Lee Blvd., Lehigh Acres
• 7-Eleven: 12750 S Cleveland Ave., Fort Myers
• 7-Eleven: 290 Lakeland Park Road, Lakeland
• 7-Eleven: 720 Chiquita Blvd., North Cape Coral
• 7-Eleven: 2604 Skyline Blvd., Cape Coral
• 7-Eleven: 940 S Broad St., Brooksville
• 7-Eleven: 1626 Meadow Road, Lehigh Acres
• 7-Eleven: 2401 James Redman Parkway, Plant City
• 7-Eleven: 601 Pine Island Road SW, Cape Coral
• 7-Eleven: 6050 Dean Dairy Road, Zephyrhills
• 7-Eleven: 714 Burnt Store Road, Cape Coral
• BJ’s Wholesale: 1929 Pine Island Road NE, Cape Coral
• BJ’s Wholesale: 9372 Ben C Pratt Six Mile Cypress Parkway., Fort Myers
• BJ’s Wholesale: 13585 NE 86th Path, Lady Lakes
• Handy Foods Store #86: 21321 Palm Beach Blvd., Alva
• Handy Foods Store #87: 3205 Lee Blvd., Lehigh Acres
• Superday Citgo: 1595 S McCall Road, Port Charlotte
• Bolton One LLC: 15434 U.S. 19, Hudson
• JHW #310 – DBA Avenue Citgo: 11867 N. Williams St., Dunellon
• AL Prime – Daytona Beach: 1898 S. Clyde Morris Blvd., Daytona Beach
• Quick & Easy Stop: 4529 Bee Ridge Road, Sarasota
• Palmers Easy Stop: 903 Cattleman Road, Sarasota
• Faulkenburg Citgo: 5320 Falkenburg Road, Tampa
• Choice Food & Gas: 310 N Central Ave., Umatilla
• 2K Express 5: 6202 N 40th St., Tampa
• Perfection Station 5: 9931 N Florida Ave., Tampa

Those impacted can call 1-800-HELP-FLA or file a complaint at here.