Could they not have shot so many holes in the fuel tanks that all the diesel would have run out on to the ground in a few hundred metres. Maybe the EPA said no
Brent
Here is a link to a YouTube video of the incident… sorry for the shear lunacy of the narration, it is from one of those stupid reality news TV shows… but you can see the trooper shoot a shotgun at the gas cap (the switch is about a foot above where he was aiming). To penetrate the gas tank would have required a much more powerful gun and armor piercing ammo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apsKBo8-zak
Here is a link to the CNN story about it.
The steel used in fuel tanks is of a sufficient hardness and thickness that normal small arms fire will at best leave a dent, and most likely just leave a paint scratch. Armor piercing ammunition would be needed and normal ‘rifle’ sized holes would take many, many miles of movement to empty the tank…you need a big, big hole to release several thousand gallons of fuel quickly.