'Colossal waste': DOD slammed for $43M, US-funded gas station in Afghanistan
Outrage over US spending $43M on gas station in Afghanistan
It might be the world's most expensive gas station — not to mention a gross misuse of taxpayer money, according to a top government watchdog.
The Department of Defense spent $43 million to build a gas station in Afghanistan that should have cost roughly $500,000, the lead oversight team monitoring U.S. spending in Afghanistan has found. The discovery came as part of a broader investigation into allegations of criminal activity within the DOD's premiere program to kick-start the Afghan economy.
"It's fright-night at the Pentagon," John Sopko, special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction (SIGAR), told FoxNews.com, calling the spending "outrageous to the taxpayer."
At issue is spending by the Task Force for Stability and Business Operations, known as TFBSO or the Task Force, which ended in March 2015. But most alarming, according to Sopko, is the DOD's failure to answer questions about the $800 million program and its claim the Task Force's employees no longer work for the DOD.
"I have never in my lifetime seen the Department of Defense or any government agency clam up and claim they don't know anything about a program," said Sopko, a former federal prosecutor appointed by President Obama in 2012 to watch over spending in Afghanistan.
"Who's in charge? Why won't they talk?" he said. "We have received more allegations about this program than we have received about any other program in Afghanistan."
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EPA State Inspectors: 1 in 6 Gas Pumps 'Non-Compliant'
The Arizona Department of Weights and Measures inspected nearly 28,000 pumps at 1,823 gas stations between July 1 of last year and June 30 of this year. Inspectors found 17% of the pumps were out of compliance for various reasons, compared to 14% a year ago.
The most common violations:
• 735 cases where the pump was dispensing more fuel than registered on the meter (thus favoring the consumer)
• 254 cases where the pump was dispensing less fuel than registered on the meter (thus shorting the consumer)
• 252 cases of "meter jump" in which the meter did not start at zero
• 340 cases of "meter creep" where the pump continued to slowly incur charges after the gas pump had shut itself off after the tank was full and no product was being dispensed
• 489 cases of the display not being readable to the customer
• 332 cases where the gas hose was in such bad shape that the pump was placed out of service.
The gas pump violations resulted in more than $352,000 in civil penalties being levied against the station owners.
Many of the inspections were the result of consumer complaints. To file a complaint, visit the Department of Weights and Measures website at www.azdwm.gov , then click on "File a complaint".
Read more: http://www.kfyi.com/articles/arizona-news-118695/state-inspectors-1-in-6-gas-11499599/#ixzz2ZXOXgRGO
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