In preparation of weather associated with Hurricane Harvey, the city of Yazoo City discovered it was in possession of 12,000 gallons of fuel that can no longer be used.
Danny Miller, director of public works, told the Board of Mayor and Aldermen about this discovery, one that he said he “inherited.”
Miller began investigating the city’s fuel situation last Friday in preparation for potential severe weather.
“We got down to the barn Friday and did get the diesel pumps to work,” Miller said. “But the gas is no good. We have got 12,000 gallons of gas that’s no good.”
Miller said he has made contact with a company that can pump the old gas out of the tanks.
“They do pay for pumping the gas because they can recycle it and use it in different factories,” Miller said. “But right now we’ve got 12,000 gallons of fuel that we can’t use.”
Alderman Gregory Robertson questioned how the city even got in a situation where such an abundance of fuel was forgotten.
Miller said when the city entered into a contract with Fuel Man after the April 2010 tornado hit Yazoo. The plan was to keep an emergency reserve of gasoline available for city workers to use in a time of crisis.
“They wanted to keep fuel in the tanks just in case we couldn’t get to the pumps,” Miller said. “When the tornado came through, we couldn’t get any fuel. We had to wait in line like everybody else. They wanted to fill the tanks up. But we haven’t had a catastrophe in quite a few years.”
Since the tornado and the arrival of 12,000 gallons worth of fuel, the tank sat unattended for years. Gasoline is a highly refined product with a limited life span before it degrades.
“This is a great example of something not being written down,” said Mayor Diane Delaware. “If it is not written down, it doesn’t exist. Therefore, there were 12,000 gallons of gas in a tank with no process, procedure or anything written to manage.”
Delaware said this mistake should be used as a learning lesson.
“They are hard lessons,” But 12,000 gallons of gas in a tank…it is an interesting concept. There was nothing written. When you don’t write things down…they don’t exist. People forget about it.”
