NORTH PLATTE, Neb. -- Following up on a complaint, the Nebraska Department of Weights & Measures, the agency responsible for monitoring the petroleum industry, found that a North Platte gas station was selling fuel with a higher-than-advertised ethanol content, reported The North Platte Telegraph.
Christin Kamm, public information officer for the Nebraska Department of Agriculture, told the newspaper that after confirming that the Shell Timesaver station, owned by R & C Petroleum, did have more ethanol than what was advertised, the department temporarily forced the station's pumps [image-nocss] to be closed.
"We did the inspection within the last week after receiving a complaint," said Kamm. "We did an investigation and found that two pumps at the Shell Timesaver station had a higher concentration of ethanol," than what was advertised, she said.
Kamm noted that both the unleaded and super unleaded pumps were found to be in violation with one pump containing 15% ethanol and the second containing 16% ethanol.
"Our inspectors shut them down at that point and they brought in a new truck of gasoline to correct the problem," she told the paper. "Once they were back in compliance, they were allowed to re-open."
She added that that there would be no further actions taken against the station or the owners.
The problem, according to the initial complaint, is that the station was unfairly profiting from the excess of ethanol, which costs less than gasoline, by adding more ethanol into the mixture.
Kamm noted that the complaint came from a competitor who complained that an unfair playing field was being created.
Since no fines were levied, Kamm said she did not know if the incident violated the Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which does outline the false representation of a product. This same act was invoked against two station owners in August by Attorney General Jon Bruning, which eventually led to Mark Wilkinson and Roy Wagner being fined $15,000 and $20,000, respectively, in a settlement agreement, said the report.
It will be up to the attorney general's office to interpret whether this current incident was an intentional act to deceive or if it was, indeed, an accident. Holley Bolen, chief of staff for the attorney general's office, told the Telegraph that the information is currently being reviewed by the Consumer Affairs Division.
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