Letters to the Editor

at Carmuirs, Falkirk, as it headed from the BP complex at Grangemouth, Stirlingshire, to Cumbria.

Train operators EWS have launched a probe, but said the tankers were designed to withstand such impacts and there were no leaks or danger to the public.

Thousands of morning commuters were hit by a shutdown of part of the track which affected services between Edinburgh and Dunblane.

Scotland: City petrol stations fail on fire code

Nearly half of all petrol stations in a Scottish city failed to meet official fire safety guidelines in recent spotchecks.

Of 51 garages visited by trading standards officers in Edinburgh, 20 fell below statutory standards to protect public safety. Breaches included damaged pumps, faulty emergency shut-off switches, substandard fire extinguishers and poor staff knowledge of emergency procedures.

The checks were carried out during the eight-day firefighters’ strike in November to ensure residents were as safe as possible while emergency cover was disrupted.

Mike Drewry, the director of environmental and consumer services for the City of Edinburgh Council, said there could be "no excuses" for the lapses.

Scottish whisky island to run wave-powered bus

Scotland's whisky-producing island of Islay will run the world's first bus to be powered by wavegenerated electricity at the end of November, Greenpeace said.

The environmental campaigning group said it had donated the electric bus to be powered from a commercial wave generator on Islay, which aims to be energy selfsufficient. "We're pretty confident that this is the first wave-powered bus in the world," said Ben Stewart of Greenpeace. "We hope in decades to come all transport will be of this type."

Previously electric vehicles have mostly relied on fossil-fuel power generation, which produces greenhouse gases, blamed for global warming.

The UK government has set itself a target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 23 percent on 1990 levels by 2010, well above its commitments under the U.N. Kyoto Protocol.

Tesco claims selling petrol 9c cheaper than average Irish price

UK retail giant Tesco has begun selling petrol which it claims is 9c per litre less than the average price charged in Dublin.

Although the supermarket group has only opened one station - in Killarney - it has fired the first shot in what could be a price war, indicating its willingness to undercut the existing players. In recent years, similar moves in the UK resulted in a massive price war between supermarkets and oil corporations.

Gordon Fryett, chief executive of the Irish operation said it has sought planning permission for forecourts in Finglas and Sandyford in Dublin and Maynooth in Co Kildare and is to seek planning permission for a station in Letterkenny, Co Donegal.

The supermarket group is preparing to increase the amount of sales it generates from non-food items. Fryett said the company had signed a new deal with US clothing company Cherokee to provide goods for Irish and British outlets.

Ireland: Tesco takes on the petrol companies

its UK petrol retailing operations, Tesco Ireland has dipped its toe in the Irish petrol market with a new filling station at its store in Killarney.

However, Tesco has played down suggestions of a nationwide roll-out for its petrol business although it says that other ventures in Meath and Dublin may be on the cards.

The Killarney store has already caused a bit of controversy by selling unleaded petrol at 84 cents per litre and diesel for 76.6 cents. This forced a number of local outlets run by Statoil and Shell to cut their prices to bring them in line with their new rival.

Over the last ten years, Tesco has built up a successful and highly profitable business in the UK where it now operates 300 filling stations adjacent to its stores.

Ireland: Feb 16 2003 Illicit fuel operation uncovered

Police and customs officers have uncovered an illegal fuel laundering operation in Northern Ireland.

Officers said the plant at Carrickmore in County Tyrone had a capacity to launder 85,000 litres of fuel a month. The laundering operation, which could have cost the taxpayer up to £500,000 a year, was discovered in a barn erected above several underground storage tanks. The current price of fuel in the Republic of Ireland is lower than that in Northern Ireland - with excise duty on petrol 20p per litre cheaper on petrol and 25p per litre on diesel.

'Significant hit'

Large amounts of illegal fuel are smuggled across the border into Northern Ireland. Paramilitaries are involved in many of the illegal laundering operations. A customs spokesman said: "This was a highly sophisticated laundering operation. Its discovery is another significant hit on the illegal fuel trade and shows the benefit of close working with the Police Service of Northern Ireland. We have repeatedly warned motorists to think before buying cheap fuel. It puts honest filling stations out of business, robs

News the taxpayer of money for public services and puts the motorist's vehicle at risk of serious engine damage."

He said about 8,400 litres of illicit fuel was seized and two buses, two private vehicles and a coach were taken away. A man and woman have been arrested in connection with the discovery.

USA: Gasoline prices reach highest level in 10 months

The price U.S. drivers pay for gasoline jumped 5.4 cents a gallon, the biggest weekly increase in 10 months, the Energy Department said.

The price for regular unleaded gasoline averaged $1.527 a gallon - up 37 cents from a year ago and the biggest increase since the last week of March 2002 - based on a survey of service stations by the department's Energy Information Administration. Gasoline prices have surged with crude as the possibility of war with Iraq has ignited fears of Middle East supply disruptions and as a nation-wide strike in Venezuela has sharply curtailed oil shipments from the No. 5 crude exporter. The price of crude accounts for about 40 percent of the cost of a gallon of gasoline.

The national price for cleanerburning reformulated gasoline, which is sold at about one-third of the gas stations in more polluted metropolitan areas, increased 4.1 cents in the last week to $1.585 a gallon, EIA said.

The West Coast had the most expensive regular unleaded gasoline over the last week, with the average price in the region up 4 cents to $1.609 a gallon, EIA said.

The Gulf Coast states had the cheapest fuel, even though the average price was up 5.8 cents to $1.472 a gallon.

Among cities, San Francisco had the top spot in fuel costs, with the price up 3.7 cents to $1.802 a gallon. Denver had the cheapest gasoline, with the price up 3.2 cents to $1.461 a gallon.

The report also showed gasoline prices were up 2.8 cents in Los Angeles at $1.629, up 2.8 cents in New York City at $1.579, up 4.8 cents in Chicago at $1.566 and up 6.7 cents in Houston at $1.473.

The biggest year-on-year change in city pump prices was in San Francisco, where gasoline costs were up 56 cents a gallon from a year earlier.

Separately, the nationwide price for diesel fuel increased 5 cents to $1.542 a gallon, up 40 cents from last year and the highest since December 2000. Truckers in central Atlantic states paid the most for diesel fuel at $1.66 a gallon, up 5 cents from the prior week. The Rocky Mountain states had the cheapest diesel at $1.50 a gallon, up 4.6 cents from the previous week.

USA: tank testing firm sentenced to pay $2.29 million

Tanknology - NDE, International, Inc. Criminal Plea

On October 30, 2002, Tanknology - NDE, International, Inc. was sentenced in federal district court in Austin, Texas to pay a criminal fine of $1 million and pay restitution of $1.29 million to the United States for the costs of the potential retesting of underground storage tanks that the company had falsely tested. In addition, Tanknology will serve five years probation. Pursuant to the plea agreement, Tanknology will implement a quality management system to ensure that false and improper testing practices do not occur again.

The United States, on July 24, 2002, had filed criminal charges against Tanknology-NDE, International, Inc. (Tanknology) in 10 federal district courts. The United States also filed a plea agreement wherein

Tanknology agreed to plead guilty to all 10 felony charges. The guilty pleas were for false underground storage tank (UST) testing services performed by Tanknology employees at federal facilities located in the States of Texas, California, Arizona, Illinois, Florida, South Carolina, New Jersey and the Commonwealths of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. The pleas were entered in the Western District of Texas on August 29, 2002.

The case was filed under the criminal provision of 18 U.S.C. Sections 287 and 1001 (false claims and false statements) subsequent to the federal government conducting an investigation, from July 1998 through December 1999. The investigation found evidence that Tanknology employees failed to properly perform tank tightness testing and leak detection testing at U.S. Department of Defense, US Postal Service, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) facilities.

The false tests ranged from failing to follow required test protocols to conducting "drive-by" tests (e.g., a Tanknology tester was videotaped driving up to a federal facility, driving away after a few minutes and then submitting false data). The investigations were conducted by the EPA Criminal Investigation Division along with the investigative arms of seven other federal agencies with the assistance of personnel from the Texas Natural Resources and Conservation Commission (TNRCC) and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. The United States has no evidence that the environment was harmed due to the company's violations.

USA: Multi-State Retail Gasoline and Convenience Store Conversion Project With Autodesk

The Dimension Group, a full service development firm based in Dallas, has made the Autodesk Buzzsaw project collaboration service from Autodesk, Inc. an integral element in its business as it continues a massive retail gasoline and convenience store renovation project for real estate management company Trammel Crow.

The Dimension Group was one of three firms chosen to permit the conversion of more than 150 gasoline/retail sites in Texas from Texaco to the Shell brand. Each

firm was responsible for 50 sites for the initial project phase -- including due diligence, site signage design, and permitting. After being the first to complete their sites as the other two firms struggled to meet deadlines, Trammell Crow awarded Dimension the balance of the sites for them to complete.

While delighted with the endorsement of its work, Dimension realized that the large increase in projects under management would significantly increase its workload. The threefold increase in the number of locations for which it was responsible effectively tripled the number of details to manage. Dimension had already been using Autodesk Buzzsaw, but primarily as an internal tool. Now, with its project managers devoting more and more time to phone conversations with various general contractors, sign contractors, and sub-contractors, the firm decided to adopt the Buzzsaw service as its standard platform for all project communications related to the Shell station conversions.

USA: Petrol Pump Fire

Fire officials are still investigating a petrol pump fire in Plainview USA last week, but static electricity appears to be to blame. It happened in January at the Allsup's Convenience Store at 8th St. and Columbia. Fire crews responded to the scene in just three minutes, and got the fire under control within seconds. No one was injured. Experts say when you fill up your tank remember to touch something metal, like the side of your car before reaching for the pump. That will prevent any static sparks from igniting the gasoline.

Tesoro To Switch To Ethanol Gasoline In California

Tesoro Petroleum Corp. plans to switch its California gasoline production to the ethanol-based CARBOB blend in early 2003, company spokeswoman Tara Ford informed. The company will continue to have the ability to produce both the new ethanolbased blend and MTBE-based (methyl tertiary butyl ether) CARB gasoline. "We plan to switch to ethanol-based CARBOB in the first part of 2003, and we'll be flexible to do both," Ford said.

Tesoro owns and operates the Golden Eagle refinery in Northern California's Contra Costa County. The refinery has a crudeprocessing capacity of 168,000 barrels a day. The independent refining company also owns refineries in Washington, Alaska, Hawaii, Utah and North Dakota.

Tesoro's planned switch to ethanol-based gasoline early this year would be months ahead of the year-end deadline for the ethanol conversion required by the state. Tsoro joins all the major oil refiners in California in announcing an early 2003 switch to ethanol. Valero Energy Corp. remains the only independent refiner that has not announced plans to convert most or all of its production to ethanolbased gasoline production in early 2003.

InnovaTek Demonstrates Fuel Processor

InnovaTek demonstrated its InnovaGen™ fuel processor technology for the U.S. Army, meeting an important milestone in its development program.

The company demonstrated an alpha-stage laboratory prototype that converts diesel fuel to hydrogen using a proprietary catalytic process and an advanced separations membrane. The system produces pure hydrogen at a rate of 12 liters per minute, enough to produce 1 kW electrical energy from a fuel cell.

Tokheim Sale Complete

A U.S. bankruptcy court judge, waving aside concerns by the Justice Department about antitrust violations, approved the breakup of Tokheim Corp.'s assets Thursday. Its two primary rivals divided the remains for a total package of more than $50 million. The court upheld successful bids presented in an auction earlier this month. First Reserve Corp., parent company of pump manufacturer Dresser Wayne, obtains Tokheim's North American retail gasoline dispenser business for $17.83 million, while Danaher Corp., proprietor of multiple fuel equipment holdings including dispenser maker Gilbarco, picks up Tokheim's Gasboy subsidiary for $38.3 million, according to the Associated Press. For the city of Fort Wayne, the lengthy demise of an industrial stalwart marks a devastating blow to an already economically depressed region. While the two winning dispenser companies declined comment, it is likely that the Fort Wayne plant will be shut down, officials have said. That reality is not surprising as the petroleum equipment industry is in the midst of a major shakeout resulting in substantial consolidation in both underground and aboveground infrastructure, from tank gauging to dispensers. For Tokheim, once the world's largest dispenser provider, the road to dissolution has been fraught with more than two years of financial uncertainty and downsizing. The company filed its second Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November and subsequently sought to halt health coverage of its remaining 400 employees. Since then, Tokheim continued to pare payroll and, now, according to media reports, sits in peril. Former Tokheim CFO John Negovetich has said that a successful bid by Dresser Wayne would result in the relocation of Tokheim operations to Dresser's plant in Austin, Texas. The Fort Wayne community had held out hope that a local investment group would be successful in its efforts to continue operations. Last December, Ruffolo Benson LLC expressed interest in acquiring Tokheim's North American operations, excluding the Gasboy subsidiary in Landsale, Pa.