posted 09-16-2008 06:23 PM ET (US)        

E40 ACCIDENTALLY SOLD TO BOATERS ON CALIFORNIA ISLAND

A small village on Catalina Island in California is warning its boaters about a fuel mistake that caused 40% ethanol blends to be sold for several days around Labor Day weekend.

"The excessive level of ethanol was the result of its refinery delivering a load of what was supposed to be unleaded fuel, but was in fact 100% ethanol.

When this was mixed with the existing unleaded fuel in the Two Harbors storage tanks, it created a fuel mixture with approximately 40% ethanol," explained Two Harbors Enterprises, which operates the gasoline station in the village of the same name, which is operated by the Santa Catalina Island Company. The village has about 150 full-time residents.

The fuel in question was sold between Aug. 30-Sept. 3.

According to Brad Wilson, vice president of sales and chief marketing officer of Santa Catalina Island Company, an estimated 2,100 gallons of fuel for about 200 boats and a few vehicles were sold during the timeframe in question.

The mistake was found after "[s]omeone noticed that the unleaded fuel smelled different. The gas was then tested, but no engine problems have been identified at this time," Wilson added.

Wilson noted that General Petroleum is likely the fuel distributor for the village, and while he was unsure who the refiner was, General Petroleum notes on its website that it is one of Chevron-Texaco's largest U.S. distributors.

Calls to General Petroleum to confirm this information, however, were not successful by presstime.

"Upon learning of this mistaken delivery, Two Harbors immediately ceased sales and had flushed its tanks to make sure our supply is no longer contaminated," said Ann Luchau, Two Harbors vice president and chief administrative officer. "The fuel mixture does not pose a health or safety risk to people, but could affect the performance of boats or vehicles and/or potentially damage vehicle or boat engines. We can assist you in verifying your purchase and inform you of the steps that can be taken to have the fuel removed from your tanks and replaced without charge," she added.

"Two Harbors regrets this incident and plans to work closely with its customers to remedy the situation. Those concerned are urged to call Two Harbors representatives Laura McElroy at 310-510-4219 or Ann Luchau at 310-510- 4204," Two Harbors Enterprises added.

There have been several reports this year of ethanol-fueled boats having engine problems. Last month, a class action suit filed by a Florida boat owner claimed that ethanol blends sourced from five majors and a California jobber have caused boats to be damaged. The suit, the second class action filed against oil firms since April, argues that the defendants knew of the problems ethanol blended with gasoline causes in fiberglass fuel tanks in boats, but failed to warn the plaintiff and the classes. However, those cases likely relate to E10, not the E40 mistakenly blended in this incident.

posted 09-17-2008 10:44 AM ET (US)            

We got 8800 gallons of water delivered to our 12000 gallon Diesel tank before. The hydrosorb filters we have on the dispensers shut down and we only sold a little bit of water/Diesel mix to one customer. That is why we filter our Diesel.

It came out of the BP Refinery truck rack in Ferndale. Explanation was that they were working on the Diesel line and had filled it with water for safety reason. They forgot to purge the line before putting it back in service.

posted 09-17-2008 11:48 PM ET (US)            

Just as general FYI for anyone who may be interested, a good source for finding out some of that stuff we don't get when posted by others:

posted 09-18-2008 12:28 PM ET (US)            

Gasoline will tolerate some Diesel, not much and I do not know the percentage. Diesel will not tolerate any gasoline. These cases you have your tank pumped out into a truck and it goes to be re-refined. Then you get a whole bunch of the product that should be in the tank to dilute any bad stuff that is left after the pump out. Then you got to purge the lines from the tank to the dispenser. Boaters forget to do this sometimes. You get a nice fresh tank of gas for the season, but the stuff in the fuel line between the tank and the motor is the old crappy stuff.

In any case it is expensive, damages your reputation and brings out people who want brand new engines because the "Big Oil" can afford it, kind of like insurance fraud.