Gas Shortages Plague Southeast; Other Regions See Prices Drop
Gas prices continued their schizophrenic behavior this past week, as the Southeastern U.S. was hit hard by severe gas shortages. While the national average remained a relatively modest $3.64 a gallon, according to AAA, southern states like the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee saw bone-dry gas stations and cars lined up for two hours at the ones that still had fuel.
Meanwhile, the price of gas in Michigan has fallen 46 cents in the past week, which marks one of the steepest, quickest drops in that state's history. The state averaged a price of $3.71 per gallon, but gas-pricing sites found it going for as low as $3.39 in some counties.
So what gives?
Obviously, the double smack of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike shoulder much of the blame for recent price spikes, but the Southeastern U.S. carries an additional burden because that region has very minimal refining or gas storage capacity. They get almost all of their gas from pipelines that originate in Texas.
When Ike followed Gustav so quickly, Texas refineries basically sat idle for a month, and what little inventory the Southeast had managed to accrue dried up. For the past three weeks, the region has been feeling the pain of the limited supply.
Then, when media coverage of the shortage began to hit the airwaves, panicked drivers started topping off their tanks at every opportunity, leading to a spike in demand. The shortage has affected businesses, government (Asheville, N.C., shut down government offices for several days) and even college football.
Anyone who has lived in or visited the South knows that threatening the cancellation of the Georgia-Alabama SEC showdown is akin to saying Christmas is off. Alabama Gov. Sonny Perdue called the entire notion "ridiculous."
The game did go on (Alabama gave the No.3 Bulldogs a bloody nose), but all this drama serves as a reminder of the continuing danger of our country's petroleum-based lifestyle. The shortage in the South is expected to continue for two to four more weeks.
No Quick End to Gas Shortage in South (USA Today)
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The price of regular at the two stations near my home on Long Island, NY just dropped to $3.70, including all taxes.
Since gas taxes here are obscene, including both a state per gallon tax and a local sales tax, I'm astounded that the price has dropped so much.
I am surprised to learn that the Costco around the corner is $3.35, and that is much lower than the southeast. I remember when I lived there, it was always MUCH cheaper than Michigan's gas.
I live in the Atlanta area and paid $4.30 a gallon for regular after waiting in line for nearly 2 hours at 1.30am last night, and then I had to go back to gas up our second car. Fortunately the gas didn't run out before I filled up, but I didn't get much sleep...
The lineups are horrendous - cars are parked at empty gas stations waiting for the next fuel delivery, and the lineups run for blocks. Some gas stations are limiting purchases to $10!
Fights are breaking out as people try to jump the lines. Others run out of gas while waiting for gas. Premium hasn't been available for over 2 weeks. I've never seen anything this bad before.
This should be a dire warning to the rest of America to drill everywhere and anywhere and invest in all types of energy, but of course the politicians are not listening. We are dangerously dependent upon our enemies.
Perhaps this will all become moot with the financial meltdown - we'll soon all be walking, and living under the overpasses and in the abandoned gas stations.
^^^It's a distribution problem, not a crude oil supply problem.
Plug-in hybrids like the Chevy Volt would allow you to skip the long gasoline lines.
sonny perdue is the georgia governor, not alabama.
I find it ridiculous that folks are being told to "wait until you're below 1/4 tank to fill up" and in the same breath gas stations are asked to "limit amounts" (generally to $20 or $40- aka 4-9 gallons, at around $3.80 - $4.30 a gallon). Many people here in western NC have relatively long commutes, and will spend 4 gallons in two days of driving to and from work. Worse, if they follow the 1/4 tank advisory right now, with stations having gas being so spotty, they're more or less forced to fill up every two days. Someone keeping a full tank (only possible by visiting multiple stations or the aforementioned every two days thing) at least has the option of waiting an additional day or two to find a convenient location. And finally, there's the need for emergency reserves in the tank- keeping less than half a tank means that if a true need to go out happens, you might run out of fuel. The latter seems to be fairly common right now..