Gas Shortage In the South Creates Panic, Long Lines

[struggle4progress]

Source: Washington Post

If Drivers Can Fill Up, They Get Sticker Shock
By Steven Mufson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 26, 2008; Page D01

Gasoline shortages hit towns across the southeastern United States this week, sparking panic buying, long lines and high prices at stations from the small towns of northeast Alabama to Charlotte in the wake of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

In Atlanta, half of the gasoline stations were closed, according to AAA, which said the supply disruptions had taken place along two major petroleum product pipelines that have operated well below capacity since the hurricanes knocked offshore oil production and several refineries out of service along the Gulf of Mexico.

Drivers in Charlotte reported lines with as many as 60 cars waiting to fill up late Wednesday night, and a community college in Asheville, N.C., where most of the 25,000 students commute, canceled classes and closed down Wednesday afternoon for the rest of the week. Shortages also hit Nashville, Knoxville and Spartanburg, S.C., AAA said ...

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/25/AR2008092504159.html?hpid=topnews

---

Gas shortages reportedly critical in western N.C.
Published: Sep 25, 2008 09:24 AM
Modified: Sep 25, 2008 09:34 AM
By Steve Lyttle, The Charlotte Observer
Hundreds of cars lined streets this morning as motorists in the Charlotte metro region tried to cope with an ever-worsening gasoline shortage situation. Some motorists waited up to five hours, and fights were reported as people accused other customers of cutting in line. Some gas stations that opened this morning with what they thought were ample supplies ran out within a few hours. Police were called out several times to break up fights among angry customers ... http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1231716.html


State’s on top of gas shortage but do your part, too
By CHRIS CLARK and CAROL COUCH
Friday, September 26, 2008
... Metro Atlanta, most of Georgia and the Southeast depend primarily on two pipelines, Colonial and Plantation, to supply fuel for millions of motorists. The refineries that supply Colonial and Plantation with petroleum receive crude oil from platforms and rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. Back-to-back hurricanes, Gustav and Ike, recently swept through Texas and Louisiana resulting in lost output at the refineries and shut-in crude oil production in the Gulf of Mexico. As of Thursday, 62 percent of the Gulf crude oil production remained shut-in and most refineries have restarted their operations with limited production ...
Chris Clark is executive director of the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority. Carol Couch is the director of the environmental protection division at the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/stories/2008/09/26/clarked_0926.html


Florida: Free gas leads to big crowd, 1 arrest, 4 accidents
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
11:36 a.m., Thursday, September 25, 2008
... Stuart attorney Willie Gary and local hip-hop/R&B radio station X102.3 sponsored a free gas giveaway Wednesday afternoon to the first 102 listeners who went to a Wal-Mart gas station in Fort Pierce. Authorities said more than 3,000 people showed up, causing four traffic crashes. One man was also charged with three counts of battery for hitting a woman in the back of the head and hitting police officers ... http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2008/sep/25/florida-free-gas-leads-big-crowd-1-arrest-4-accide/


AAA: Don't panic
Fear is making situation a lot worse
By Charles D. Perry and Toya Graham · heraldonline.com FTP
Updated 09/26/08 - 12:14 AM
... "Every day, we have the opportunity to see better days, but as far as getting back to normal, I think we're weeks out from that," said Michael Fields, executive director of the South Carolina Petroleum Marketers Association. "We're still seeing the manifestations of 17 refineries that completely shut down." Most of South Carolina has felt the gas crunch, although the situation hasn't been so dire in coastal port cities such as Charleston, which has received regular fuel shipments. But that could change, Fields said, as more inland distributors tap into the beachside resources ... http://www.heraldonline.com/109/story/843618.html

[TomInTib]

1. Spot shortages?

As long as we Marinites will line up to pay $3.70, why would they sell it any cheaper?

[AndyTiedye]

2. $3.70? Where?

It hasn't gotten that low on the Peninsula in almost a year.

[L0oniX]

23. Gas is $3.65 a gallon here in the Tampa bay area and no lines here.

[struggle4progress]

4. It' s mid-3.80s near me here in central NC

[Tunkamerica]

15. 3.95 in durham, a few places have 3.90 n/t

[struggle4progress]

16. IIRC I paid $3.83 regular within the last 24 hours -- but I'm cheap

[Homer Wells]

21. $3.99 here in southern WV. n/t

[LeftyMom]

6. $3.53 in the valley

The lowest I've seen since last winter, at least.

[Tunkamerica]

3. fights in Charlotte yesterday in asheville the day before

the governor said it will get back to normal tomorrow. Haven't seen any problems in durham though a co-worker said Raleigh had several closed stations. I'm glad I only work 2 miles away.

[SemperEadem]

5. are they fed up enough to vote the thugs out of office?

[raystorm7]

7. LOL... you made me laugh =)

[benh57]

8. shortages in NC affecting polls?

Maybe this is why NC is trending blue this week so strongly.

[ContraBass Black]

9. People are going along the gas lines with voter registration forms.

[carlyhippy]

18. good idea

something needs to change here, and if this gets the ball rolling, so be it.

[Chulanowa]

10. There was a line at the local Conoco here on Vashon

It apparently lasted four hours. Three machines at the Chevron station up the road are damaged, and it's three cents more expensive there ($4.38) so nobody bothered to go there.

[hadrons]

33. And how much gas was eaten up WAITING on that line????

YIKES!!!!

Sadly, it still won't wake many people up

[BunkerHill24]

11. Where are the Obama campaign ads showing the long lines?

[tpsbmam]

19. I called the campaign to talk to them about this.

I live in Asheville and have seen the impact of this on people firsthand, as well as heard how angry people are at government officials downplaying this, acting too late, failing to understand the impact the shortage has had on people (e.g., people not getting to work, small businesses taking a hard hit, etc), showing how ill-prepared we are for stuff like this, etc. This is an opportunity for Obama to show that he's paying attention when nobody else has been. It's an opportunity to work this into all kinds of statements about what's wrong with this country. He's been a little preoccupied in the past few days though. :P Hope he takes this opportunity -- the volunteer I spoke with totally agreed and promised to pass it along to the policy folks.

[BunkerHill24]

39. Thank you. Well done!

[tama]

12. It's not that bad

yet. At least I hear nothing about deliveries of food etc. to shops getting affected.

Next time perhaps not so lucky.

[tpsbmam]

20. No, delivery of food is likely affected very little because people elsewhere have gas....

and people aren't getting out much to buy the food that's being delivered! MANY small businesses are getting killed. If they rely more than lots on gas for their small businesses, they've taken a huge hit (e.g., lawn mowing services). Here's another example: one couple at the local farmer's market were interviewed. The farmer's market is their sole source of income. They normally make about $500/day. Now they're making about $100/day and have about 10 customers per day. People aren't shopping -- there was plenty of food in my local supermarket the other day because there was almost no one there and employees said it had been that way for at least 2 days. It was about 3 customers, me and the market employees and the checker said she wouldn't be there tomorrow if she couldn't find gas -- she was running on fumes. Restaurants, for the most part, have few if any customers. In Asheville we depend on tourist dollars for a huge part of our revenue -- tourists are calling to find out about the gas problem and often canceling their plans until this is straightened out -- fall is a huge season for Asheville because of leaf watching on the Blue Ridge Parkway. People can't get to work. One couple I know is already behind on their mortgage payment this month and between the two of them, each missed a day of work (paid hourly) because they had no gas and hadn't been able to get any.

I have to ask where you live -- if you live in one of the affected areas, you haven't been paying much attention to how this has been hitting people. If you don't, you just plain don't know what you're talking about.

[tama]

30. Thanks for the reply

hearing about these kinds of experiences from the ground is the only way to even start to understand how it is there and how it could be, if and when things get even worse. So, if only few are shopping, what are people eating then?

I live far far away, in Finland.

[tpsbmam]

34. Most I know were able to make a supermarket trip early on in this mess.....

when they still had gas and saw gas stations starting to run out of gas -- they stocked up. I warned friends & family to fill up when both Gustav & Ike hit and to stock up on whatever they needed (food, meds, etc) just in case. Most listened, some didn't and they regret it. I know what a Gulf hurricane can do and I know how much this area depends on the Gulf area for our gas. As much as people say don't fill up in cases like this, WTF are people supposed to do? We live in a mountainous area and unless you live IN Asheville (rather than out in the countryside surrounding Asheville), we have no public transportation (at least where I live). I conserve gas very well, but I can do that -- I'm retired. I just got gas yesterday, which is the first time I bought gas since about a week before Ike hit (about 3 weeks ago) -- I had a little less than 1/2 tank when I filled up. I have lots I HAVE to do this coming week so a fill up was necessary. As for food, I personally have been stocking up for months given the current economic mess and I could live on what I have stored for months on end (as could my dogs). I only went to the market because I had to run two other errands at the same time. Some people have said they have very little food in at home and haven't been able to get out to buy more and are starting to panic a little!

It sounds like it should alleviate some next week -- government officials finally got off their asses and made arrangements for hundreds of thousands of gallons of gas to get to affected areas by special deliveries. We shall see -- they could do our share of the special deliveries to this area and, if we don't continue to get regular deliveries (even at lower amounts than usual), we'll just co back to the same problem. Hopefully they're getting that worked out so that some areas aren't flush with gas while others have essentially none.

P.S. Sorry I snapped at you -- I'm a little testy these days. We've had some clueless government officials downplaying the seriousness of the situation too often and doing too little about it for too long. I'm fine but a fair number of people I know are really hurting from this.

[bushmeister0]

36. No government is more than three meals from a revolution

It really doesn't take much for the whole thing to unravel, does it?

Remember the rice and flour hoading and then rationing that went on back in April?

Now corn is scarce because there's more money in ethonal than there is in feeding people.

A few huricanes here, a few tens of thousands of people without power for a month or two, a couple hundred tent cities (W-villes)spout up here and there, a couple dozen banks go belly up, and this slow tick, tick, tick, just starts to add up.

People can be expected tp put up with so much.

That's when the National Gurad gets called in.

[Doctor Cynic]

13. So...failing banks, fuel shortages, rising prices...

but we need to keep gay marriage illegal...

[Imagevision]

14. To think that the election is 50/50 is total absurdity, whacko's want 4 more years of Bushco...

[randr]

17. This is the exact situation that the strategic reserves were created for

Once again we can see that no one is in charge!

[hyzdufan]

22. I was driving around on E yesterday...

in Lincoln County. Every single station was out except one - and I waited about 45 minutes to get in there and fill up. $3.87 for regular. I was thinking as I'm driving around - what am I supposed to do if I run out of gas? Do I call off work?

[tpsbmam]

25. Yep, I know lots of people who have missed at least one day of work....

and they spent that day trying to get gas, usually via friends/neighbors/co-workers filling up a 5-gallon can for them... if they could. The problem is for some people is once they're out of gas the have to drive around looking for it -- in mountainous terrain, that 5 gallons doesn't go far for many people.

[eilen]

40. my brother-in-law missed 2 days work,

he's right outside Nashville, in Cheatham Cty. He works in Nashville.

[wickerwoman]

24. Hm... I'm thinking 700 billion buys a lot

of high density affordable homes closer to business districts and a shitload of public transportation.

Every other developed nation on earth figured this out decades ago, btw.

[GAtomboy]

26. Over 4 bucks just outside of Atlanta

Where you're lucky enough the find it. When a gas truck pulls into Quicktrip you'd swear they were giving gas away with as long as the lines get. I thought this was supposed to have been better by now. What the hell is going on?

[tpsbmam]

28. I was lucky enough to get gas yesterday on the Asheville outskirts without a long line....

I only waited about 15 minutes -- a miracle! I paid $4.20/gallon.

[wysimdnwyg]

27. Only two weeks late

Gas shortages began in Nashville two weeks ago today. On my way home from work that Friday, I noticed that prices had jumped a whopping 40 cents since my morning drive in. By Saturday morning, many stations were completely out and the ones who had gas had gone up another 20-30 cents. By Saturday night, any station with gas had a line. Many of those lines were out in the street.

All of last week was an ordeal of worrying about running out, and hoping to get lucky and find a station with gas. At one point, the news was reporting 85% of the stations in Nashville were completely out. Finally this week has found a slow ramp back up in supplies. By today, most stations at least have regular unleaded, with many having all grades. Even the Mapco I pass on the way home has gas for the first time since this started on the 12th.

For those of you in areas still getting hit by this, take heart. Supplies will be back to normal soon.

[Phred42]

29. Will this be a 'rolling' shortage?

Gas in N.IL dropped in price now under $4/gal but will they teach us all a lesson - in sequence?

[tama]

31. Yes

It is a 'rolling' or rather 'flowing' shortage, depending on how little and how slow the juice flows in the pipelines.

[TalkingDog]

32. Some community colleges with high commuter pop. cancelled classes yesterday

and today.

In Statesville almost every station in the county, except for those out in the rural areas, were completely out of gas. And the rural stations had long lines.

And what pissed me off last night as I was watching the Charlotte news, was the "on the street" guy in a gas line bemoaning the fact that he might have to "take the bus" to work tomorrow.

Asshole.

I'd love to have public transportation into town.

[Blue_Tires]

35. at least the atlanta folks can re-discover the MARTA....

[MadinMo]

37. Gas in our area has been steadily declining in price in recent days.

I paid $3.29/gal Wednesday, today it is $3.15. If there are shortages, why are my local prices going down?

[pookieblue]

38. I think that if people didn't panic

and run out to fill the tank up in mass...we would not have this problem.

There were days, there were gas stations that had no gas. Lucky, my car was still at a half a tank. so I didn't panic. I waited. even when I saw one with gas..I didn't stop to fill up.

Today, I had to put gas in the car. It was down to $3.68 and it was easy to fine stations with gas.

I don't know... but I do know, that if the state of Georiga wanted..they can get gas shipped in from somewhere. If we were hurting that much for gasoline.
Other parts of the country are not having the shortages.

I think the gas stations/whoever are trying to make a profit on the panic. and the media feeds the panic.

I dunno.. but it's like when there was a 'rice' shortage.... how everyone was in a panic about not being able to get any rice. Remember Rob Riggle and Jon Stewart's 'story' on it.