The Maryland attorney general has charged the former operator of a Rockville gas station with 23 criminal offenses in connection with a massive gasoline leak that he allegedly failed to report to authorities one year ago.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, Mahboob Alam Awan, 54, of the 9600 block of Traville Gateway Drive in Rockville, is being accused of making false reports in required inventory reports, failing to keep daily gasoline inventory and failing to investigate irregularities in the station’s gas inventory.
Herb Meade, program administrator for the Maryland Department’s Oil Control Program, said it’s believed that nearly 30,000 gallons of gas leaked out of the underground system of Parklawn Shell Station at 11800 Parklawn Drive between mid-June and early August 2005.
The spill was so large it entered the county’s sewage system and spread throughout the area, causing a nearby day care center to close for a week as a precautionary measure during the initial cleanup period.
Fortunately, Meade said, no one became ill and the gasoline never got into the county’s drinking water supply.
However, the aftereffects of the leak are still being felt.
“So far, 14,000 gallons have been recovered from the ground,” he said, adding that crews continue to treat ground water in the area.
What went wrong was that a functional element on top of the station’s underground pump apparently broke, allowing the gasoline to escape over the two-month span.
“Every time the pump came on more gasoline was released,” Meade said, explaining that his agency became suspicious when staff members noticed large discrepancies in inventory reports about the flow of gas through the system.
Soon, the Environmental Crimes Unit of the Attorney General’s Office and Maryland State Police became involved in a joint investigation.
Because Awan was obligated to — yet did not — report any problems with the equipment, law enforcement decided to pursue criminal charges.
The Maryland Department of the Environment has also sanctioned Shell Oil, the provider of the faulty tank.
According to Meade, on June 23 Shell was fined $50,000, an amount that must be paid within 90 days. The company, as part of a civil agreement, also has been footing the bill for the cleanup.
A phone call to Shell’s press office went unreturned Wednesday.
What’s next
» If Mahboob Alam Awan is convicted of making false statements, he could be sentenced to up to six months in prison and/or fined $10,000. If he’s convicted of the inventory-related offenses, he could spend a year in prison and/or be fined $50,000 for each offense, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
» Awan is due to be arraigned in Montgomery County court Friday.
