Colorado state regulators have received more than 200 complaints this week after customers who thought they were getting regular unleaded gasoline filled their tanks with diesel fuel at Costco, King Soopers and Murphy Express pumps.
The state’s Division of Oil and Public Safety began receiving complaints Thursday after diesel fuel was loaded from a Sinclair terminal in Henderson and sent to many gas stations in the Denver metro area between 2 p.m. Wednesday and 6 a.m. Thursday, the division said.
A sample taken from the Costco gas station at River Pointe in Sheridan on Thursday and confirmed the contamination, a spokesperson from the state agency said in an email. State employees will continue testing fuel to identify impacted retailers and station owners are working to stop the sale of the bad fuel.
Cher Haavind, deputy director for Colorado’s Department of Labor and Employment, said Friday afternoon that the state does not have a list of gas stations that were impacted, but said Sinclair is conducting its own investigation to identify the gas stations that received the diesel fuel.
All affected pumps should be pumping uncontaminated unleaded gas in the next 24 to 36 hours, she said.
State officials believe the contamination is limited to gas stations in the Denver metro area, but sent an alert to about 3,000 gas stations across Colorado to warn them about the contamination, Haavind said.
By 8:30 a.m. Friday, Sinclair had also contacted all of its distributors and was working on a process for receiving complaints from consumers, she said.
“A consumer that did purchase fuel within the timeframes that we outlined would have seen issues with engine performance by now, as quickly as driving away from the retailer to very shortly thereafter, so it would have presented itself very close to the point of fueling,” Haavind said.
A representative from King Soopers said about a dozen of their gas stations received the wrong fuel. Once they became aware of the issue, workers took “immediate action” by shutting down the fuel lines and dispatching teams to perform diagnostic tests.
The following King Soopers gas stations were impacted:
- 14967 Candelas Pkwy., Arvada
- 25701 E. Smoky Hill Rd., Aurora
- 17000 E. Iliff Ave., Aurora
- 3050 S. Peoria St., Aurora
- 1045 S. 1st St., Bennett
- 12167 Sheridan Blvd., Broomfield
- 2355 W. 136th Ave., Broomfield
- 7284 Lagae Rd., Castle Pines
- 750 N. Ridge Rd., Castle Rock
- 5125 W. Florida Ave., Denver
- 1611 Pace St., Longmont
- 12959 S. Parker Rd., Parker
- 17761 Cottonwood Dr., Parker
Representatives from Costco and Murphy Express did not immediately provide a list of impacted gas stations.
Zach Hope, petroleum program manager for the Division of Oil and Public Safety, said the state is working to figure out what caused the mix-up and inspectors continue to collect more samples.
“This is, as far as I know, unprecedented in the many years I’ve worked here for sure,” said Hope, who has worked at the division for 18 years.
“The important thing is to find out how to avoid this in the future. This doesn’t benefit anybody and so Sinclair’s investigation should point to the root cause and we will work with them to make sure that they take some steps to alleviate the possibility of that happening again,” Hope said.
As the investigation continues, the state has not issued any fines or enforcement action, Hope said.
“It is unlikely at this point that we would pursue that, given our belief that this was not so much an act of negligence or even intentional decisions that led to this,” he said.
Sinclair did not respond to a request from The Colorado Sun seeking more information.
Drivers who are experiencing car issues should contact the gas station where they purchased the fuel to initiate a claims process, Hope said.
The impact the fuel mix-up has on a car’s engine depends on how much diesel fuel was added to the tank, Stephen Martindale, service director at Phil Long in Denver said.
“If that fuel tank was really low and they fueled up, it’s not going to run but a couple of 100 feet before it stalls,” Martindale said, explaining that gas engines cannot produce enough heat to ignite diesel.
He recommended drivers who suspect they got contaminated fuel to bring their cars to a dealership. Mechanics will likely drain the tank, clear the lines and replace the fuel filter, if needed, and add a fuel additive to help clean things up, he said.
“You’re probably looking at a tow bill to get it in and then you’re probably looking in the neighborhood of about 1,000 bucks,” he said, including the cost of disposing of the contaminated fuel.
“That’s where the prices add up and a lot of it depends on how much we have to drain out of the tank,” he said. “ It’s contaminated, it’s no good to anybody.”
Anyone who believes they received contaminated gas can file a complaint with the division online or by calling 303-866-4967.