Northampton County’s Department of Weights & Measures has shut down the Citgo Gas Station at 1040 South Broadway, Wind Gap, PA for suspected problems with the fuel. Motorists reported their cars stalling or stopping in the area and many of them appeared to be related to gas purchases from the Citgo Station. Anyone who filled their tank there on May 30th or 31st should contact the station at 908-482-9000.
Weights & Measures inspected the station two weeks ago but returned in response to a complaint of a car stalling directly after the purchase of fuel. Suspecting potential water contamination or a quality issue, the station has been shut down for three to four days to allow the State Department of Weights & Measures to test samples. It is expected that the holding tank may need to be pumped out, replaced and retested.
Two years ago, Northampton County Council nearly shut down the Division of Weights and Measures.Northampton County is one of just 13 counties left that still checks whether ypu'rereally getting a gallon of gas or a pound of balogna.
“I do not think we need this service, this cost, this additional government in Northampton County,” said former Council member Hayden Phillips, arguing instead for “less governmental oversight.”
Statewide, there are just 37 inspectors.
27 comments:
Sure ... we should just let consumers figure out if they’re getting a gallon of gas or pound of bologna, at every retailer they visit. We should let there be no oversight of anything, allow capitalism run rampant. Purest libertarianism
only works if EVERYONE is honest and helpful to their neighbor.
A game (county or country) with no referees (oversight) or no rules (laws without enforcement ) is not fair at all.
Let’s let corporations write the laws ... oh wait, that’s what we’re doing even more now with our current president & the spineless Trumplicans in Congress. SAD
Considering that the oil companies have been out of the retail gas business for many years, I think it is a necessary evil. A retailer can buy branded or unbranded fuel.
Two very rare incidents in the third largest metro area in PA is not reason to panic and authorize an enlargement of the government leviathan. Wards of the nanny state are so quick to panic. Rendell was right. We're a nation of wimps. And where was weights and measures in preventing this near apocalypse?
This is about regulation and the damage or fraud that can occur without it. It may be a rare occurrence because the state also has a weights & measures department that covers counties who don't. Maybe you should tell those affected that they're wimps when they get the repair bill if it's not covered by their insurance.
You're using Rendell's comment completely out of context. I believe he was referring to a cancellation of a football game due to bad weather and the word was "wusses"... traditionally football is played rain or shine or cold or snow.
Matt Cartwright has said he likes to use the word “protection “ instead of the more officious sounding regulation. I’m all for eliminating needless refs that are really roadblocks. But let’s keep protections.
How could weights and measures have protected consumers from this?
They just did
I deleted a comment advising me to let people post on Barr and Bee. I decline until people can do so without themselves being hateful or ideological.
Did you ever notice that the teabaggers that hate government have done quite well through government in one way or another. Phillips has had his life taken care of while in the military. He had a great desk job with taxpayer healthcare. He now has s great pension still with taxpayer healthcare. Many of the TPs have some benefit they are getting.
It is sad they hate the very government bureuacraci8es thy feed off of themselves.
Who agrees O’Hare is a douche bag?
I almost stopped there Wednesday. It was 2 cents cheaper $3.03. I instead bought SUNOCO across the street $3.05. BTW gas north of $3. Thanks Obama.
Obama who? He hasn't been president in 18 months. How's he have anything to do with gas prices now?
Didn't you know the taebagger trumnpian credo. All bad things happening are Obama's fault all good things are Trump's doing. Get with the alt-right program already.
We have very low unemployment, of course the wages are depress3d and many jobs are part-time, we no longer get health care or real pensions but other than that life is a dream.
7:30, I believe Hayden has a deep sense of personal integrity. I never heard him complain about pensions. But I think he got this wrong.
9:14, please try to stick to the topic.
We absolutely need a separate agency to show up after the fact. There aren’t enough public servants. We need lots more to protect us. It’s not like local PD could shut the place down in five minutes. A separate paid entity with salaries and benefits and vacations and retirement is the only way to go. It’s not like private industry has jobs to offer. There are no jobs out there. It’s been in all the papers lately. Government must act.
Americans love the OPEC dollar and ethanol?
Yeah, call the cops because you think your gas sucks. Seriously! What planet do some of these folks live on?
Cops might have to take ten minutes to do it. They already carry the yellow caution tape in their cars. There have been two local incidents in about 100 years. You've convinced me. An entire bureaucracy with salaries, pensions, benefits, etc. is required.
re:June 1 @7:30. Just to be sure there is no misunderstanding, you and others do realize, of course, that most of us (regardless of political affiliation) who served our country for 20 or more years paid federal and state income tax on our salary during all those years. In addition, our retirement income from a military pension is included for federal income tax purposes. It is true that military retired pay is not subject to PA state income tax. And, by the way, we didn’t all have “desk jobs.”
"Yeah, call the cops because you think your gas sucks."
When they contaminate something you ingest, you'd be the first to complain.
Seriously! What planet do YOU live on?
Teabaggers in the house!!!
Keep in mind our "conservative" teapartiers led by Phillips got the county into a runaway contract for bridges that will cost more than planned and take longer. All with an agency that spends money like water. Please don't preach until you get some credibility. Word!
"contract for bridges that will cost more than planned and take longer."
In large part because of a frivolous lawsuit by one of your angry friends. Oh and having a county weights and measures did not prevent this from happening. They acted after the fact, just like the Department of Ag did in a similar case in Lehigh.
Gas is lighter than water it will separate to the top so you can pump the water out from the bottom, they do it all the time, the suction line does not go to the bottom of the tank .
GPA has cost the county over a million dollars in costs unrelated to fixing any bridge. That includes hiring a lawyer to sue the county. Yeah, nice work putting that group in charge.
For what it is worth, the Morning Call's "Road Warrior" (who also reports on county government) did a piece on this that was released today.
http://www.mcall.com/news/traffic/road-warrior/mc-nws-road-warrior-weights-measures-20180601-story.html
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