Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot (D) today touted the state’s gas inspection program ahead of the Memorial Day holiday weekend at a gas station in Chevy Chase.
Franchot said the state’s aggressive inspection program of octane ratings at gas stations has led to a decline in failed inspections. Inspectors test regular, mid-grade, premium and diesel fuel at gas stations to ensure they have the octane rating advertised at pumps.
Inspectors will take about 50 samples a day from some of the state’s 1,400 gas stations and can get results within minutes. The Field Enforcement Division did about 11,000 gas samples last fiscal year, Franchot said.
“It’s the exception in Maryland when you don’t get what you pay for,” Franchot said. “In other states, it’s not the same.”
Franchot said violations have decreased from 10 percent of samples to less than 1 percent in the last several years.
Jeff Kelly, the director of the Field Enforcement Division, brought inspector Kevin Burley, who tested the gas at the Liberty gas station (5001 Bradley Blvd.). Burley takes the samples, looks for any water in the samples and then tests them with a machine that prints out octane ratings. The gas station’s regular, premium and mid-grade gas all checked out.
About 874,000 area residents will travel 50 miles or more during the four-day Memorial Day holiday travel period, AAA Mid-Atlantic projected, a 2 percent drop from last year.
