- Gasoline shortages in the Southeastern United States (September 2008)
In September 2008 many areas in the
Southeastern United States experienced severe gasoline shortages due to the disruptive influence ofhurricane s Gustav and especially Ike onoil refineries andpipeline s in the region, most particularly in those cities, towns, areas, and regions supplied bygasoline fromTexas , where manyrefineries are located. It is the lack of production at those facilities, and not any problem withtransport , which has caused theshortage s.In some areas of the Southeast panic was evident [http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE48N99720080924?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews] as consumers drove to many fuel stations and found all of them to be without gasoline. In many places very long lines formed outside of fuel stations that had gasoline, and some people waited in lines for hours to fill up the gas tank in their vehicles.
In areas places the shortages were only sporadic, while in others all of the
gas station s within a large radius were completely without gasoline leaving the local population in effect stranded. Stations which receive deliveries viatanker truck are often out again within a few hours. Prices for gasoline are also running at least 10% above the national average in the Southeast, due at least in part to tanker drivers having to wait often hours at a time for fuel, while still on thepayroll .This has had an impact in major
metropolitan area s in the region, includingmetro Atlanta (the largest),metro Nashville , andmetro Charlotte , as well as smaller cities such asAsheville ,Knoxville , andSpartanburg . All of these are areas which receive their gasoline from the parallelColonial Pipeline andPlantation Pipe Line , and thespur lines from them. As of September 29th, the pipelines were operating at "pre-hurricane levels" and 80% capacity (respectively), however thedemand is still so high (due to empty tanks and those unnecessarily "topping-off" their tanks) because of the shortage that the situation is unlikely to return to normal for several more days. In addition, there is a lag of several days between when the fuel is put into the line and when it finally arrives in receiving locations. Areas further down the pipelines toward theNortheast U.S. also receive fuel from other places viaship , thus the pipeline problem was not a serious issue there.Florida also receives fuel through its manyseaport s, as do cities like Charleston, Savannah, and Wilmington, and thus there was also no problem incoast al areas.All deliveries in metro Atlanta come from a
tank farm inDoraville , where tanker truck drivers were waiting for the limited supply of gasoline, much asend user s were doing at gas stations. Thegovernor of Georgia ,Sonny Perdue , asked theEnvironmental Protection Agency for awaiver of rules which requiresmog -reducing low-sulfur fuels to be used in the summer months around Atlanta. After it was approved by the EPA, this allowed the regular winter blend used year-round in other places to begin early, instead of October. However, the governor was criticized for waiting so long to make the request.External links
* http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/30/us/30gas.html?ref=us
* http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2008-09-28-Gas-shortage_N.htm
* http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/7824487
* http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iXL53Rj9GZchAO3DZxjwZFHHjRFAD93GKPBO0
* http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-ap-gasoline-fear-factor,0,2371168.story
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