Tim and Becky Robinson the new owners of Bassett's Station.

The new owners of Bassett’s Station, Tim and Becky Robinson, have been working furiously to make upgrades to the gas station since they purchased it last month. In addition to updating the pumps to take credit cards, they will also offer diesel fuel to customers, even more welcome news for the public.

If everything goes smoothly, fuel should be available to the public by mid-April and when this happens the current 56-mile long stretch of roadway from Camptonville to Sierraville without fuel for vehicles will be eliminated.

With deep roots in the region, the Robinsons are no strangers to Sierra County. As Tim Robinson recounted, his great-great-grandparents originally had a ranch and farm in Penn Valley. They also founded Butcher Ranch and would drive their cattle through Downieville every summer to forage until late in the autumn within the upper North Yuba River watershed.

The family now operates Robinson Enterprises, Inc., one of Northern California’s largest General Services contractors. From their company’s early days in logging, they now provide a modern-day array of services from Forest Management, Petroleum Services, Trucking, and Wildland Fire Services.

High school sweethearts, Tim and Becky are taking on Bassett’s Station as a personal venture and not a company project. They fondly recalled visiting their family house on Gold Lake regularly for over 30 years. “We would always stop at Bassetts Station along the way and it had the best memories. When the opportunity came up for us, we were excited and jumped at the chance to be a bigger part of the community. Yes, community is very important to us.”

For now, they plan on keeping the store and the restaurant operating as they continue to define their longer-term plans. They are exploring the option of possibly keeping the store open more continuously throughout the year, as well as the possibility of providing local employee housing. The Robinsons will move-in upstairs and will no doubt be busy getting ready for the late Spring rush when Gold Lake Road reopens.

In other promising gas news for the county, there has been some movement in the effort to reopen the gas station in Downieville, closed since 2018. The owners of the property, Sherali Grocery LLC, are awaiting the final approval of a grant application from the State of California to begin the removal and replacement of the existing gas tanks. The permits for the project have been submitted and approved by the county and, according to the owners, once the funds have been approved, they will begin the work.

Presently, however, there is no concrete indication of when final approval may be granted. A call into the Water Board confirmed that the deadline by the State of California for the complete removal of all single-walled Underground Storage Tanks (UST) is December 31, 2025, so the clock is ticking.

Administered by the State Water Board, the Replacing, Removing, or Upgrading Underground Storage Tanks (RUST) Grants and Loans Program assists small business Underground Storage Tank (UST) owners and operators to come into compliance with regulatory requirements and provides funding for the removal and replacement of single-walled USTs and/or piping for double-walled USTs. Upgrades, including installing containment sumps, under-dispenser containment boxes/pans, and electronic monitoring systems, and conducting enhanced leak detection tests are also eligible for grant funds.