JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, Va. –
The 733rd Logistics Readiness Squadron will gain
another asset to their mission with a new fuel service station that will be
built at Joint Base Langley-Eustis. Construction for the fuel station began
early April, 2017 and the project is expected to be completed within 16 months.
The service station will provide gasoline and E-85 diesel
fuels for government vehicles, generators and flight equipment.
“Our entire mission is fuels, jet fuel and ground
products fuel, but by having service stations it frees us up to focus on the
flight missions,” said U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Benjamin Moore, 733rd LRS fuel
facility manager. “Our main mission is getting our fuel to the planes and the
service station will allow us to do that more.”
In addition to enabling the petroleum oil and
lubricant flight to transport fuel to the aircraft on the installation, the
location of the service station will also cause less traffic congestion and will
be closer to the flightline, at the intersection of Holly Street and Beech
Avenue.
“For example, being located by the flightline will make
it easier for the forklifts from the passenger terminal, they won’t have go as
far to fuel and won’t have to drive on the same road as personally owned
vehicles,” said Moore. “We all know how that it is, you’re driving down the
road and there’s a forklift holding up traffic.”
According to U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Michael Lance,
733rd LRS NCO in charge of fuels facilities, another improvement that will be
made with the service station construction is a change in the type of fuel
used. The current diesel fuel used by the POL flight is biodiesel fuel. Though
environmentally friendly, the biodiesel can damage vehicle engines, so to
preserve the Air Force’s assets and the longevity of the GOVs engines, POL will
be using E-85 diesel fuel instead.
Lance explained, since safety is a primary concern,
the new station will have better safety measures regarding spills,
environmental damage and will also have an oil well separator which will
separate the oil from the water to prevent water contamination.
With the construction underway, the POL flight looks
forward to the future of assisting the installation and to continually improve
their performance.
“We hope to continue to bring our customers
perfect quality fuels as fast and safely as we can,” said Lance. “(With this
service station) we want to increase our relationship with our customers and
the flow rate of the mission.”