NJ gas station owner faces $25K in fines for selling spoiled fuel

⛽39 vehicles reported they stalled out after filling up at a Camden gas station

⛽It is located on Admiral Wilson Boulevard

⛽Equipment that would have detected contaminated fuel did not work

CAMDEN – The owner of a gas station faces several thousand dollars worth of fines after regulators detected high levels of water in the gasoline.

The gas sold at the at a gas station on Admiral Wilson Boulevard caused drivers to stall out.

After the road, also known as Route 30, reopened on Jan. 10 after heavy rain flooded the road, drivers who filled up at the Conoco station immediately broke down and needed to be towed away.

Tests by the city and county found the fuel contained 58% water, according to Camden County spokesman Dan Keashen.

Superintendent of Weights and Measures Judith Lugo said in a letter that 39 customers have been confirmed to have been affected by the bad gas.

"The heavy rainfall is believed to have seed into gasoline underground storage tanks. The infiltration of stormwater was then compounded by the failure of Conoco to properly maintain its monitoring systems," Lugo wrote in a letter to affected customers.

Rajvinder Kaur Ghorta faces potentially $25,000 in fines, according to Lugo.

The station has already agreed to pay for the cost of repair to customer vehicles.

Station temporarily closed

Ghorta can apply for an accelerated hearing within 20 days before the administrative order becomes permanent.

"The Conoco station will remain closed until the investigation is completed and all corrective measures implemented," Lugo said in the letter.

Keashen said that after severe flooding and other storm-related events underground tanks have alarms and warning monitors in place to test the product.

"They should have taken precautionary measures based on the landscape at the time," Keashen said.

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