"Fuel Firm Flouted Safety Rules"

"BAYAMON, Puerto Rico --  The fuel company whose tank farm exploded in a massive fire last month has been cited for sweeping environmental violations dating back 10 years, costing $1.3 million in penalties and fines for leaking hazardous waste in the water, air and soil, a nonprofit investigative news organization has reported.

 Yet local and federal government agencies have allowed the company to run for nearly a decade without safety inspections or an emergency community disaster plan, in violation of federal law, Inter-American University School of Law's Center for Investigative Reporting found.

Caribbean Petroleum Company (CAPECO) is a fuel company that distributes diesel and gasoline products to over 200 gas stations throughout the island under the Gulf brand. The company operates the only privately-owned loading dock facility in Puerto Rico.

Its facility at the Luchetti Industrial Park in Bayamón was the site of an explosion last month that produced a toxic fire that took firefighters several days to extinguish and caused fuel leaks into neighboring waterways."

McNelly Torres and Omaya Sosa Pascual report for the Miami Herald November 11, 2009.