Posted on 04/20/2006 1:31:40 PM PDT by jhp
My company is in the gasoline retail business. The changeover to ethanol is what is responsible for many stations being "out of gas" right now. You have to pump all the water and sludge out of the tanks before the new ethanol blend is put in. (If you don't, the resulting mixture may severely damage engines.) The easiest way to do this (there are several) is to sell the gas down to almost empty and call the cleaning contractor. And they are all real busy right now, so it's hard to get right back up and running. Most east coast big cities were using "reformulated" gasoline (RFG) with MTBE, courtesy of the enviro-wackos as another poster correctly pointed out. Most now are having to change over.
Even if you are not in a city that is required to use RFG, if your refinery is in an area where SOME big city is, they will probably add ethanol to your gasoline, too. That's because by law, they must sell RFG in the one city, so if they run out, they have to shut down. If they run out of "straight" gas for you, they can legally subsitute the ethanol version at your station. Therefore, MANY stations are getting ready to use ethanol.
The normal level of ethanol added to gasoline to replace MTBE will not exceed 15% ethanol. It may be as low as 5-7% some places. This will not damage most modern (post 1990?) vehicles. Altair 333, if you just bought a new vehicle, double-check your manual and talk to the dealer. If you are in a big city, you may not be able to buy ANY gasoline without some amount of ethanol in it by the end of May, certainly by the end of next May when all MTBE is legally phased out.
My guess is that your owner's manual is warning about E-85 ethanol. I hope so, anyway.
The "clean alternative fuel" the enviro-wackos were touting is E-85, which is 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. It WILL damage many modern engines, unless they are rated FFV (flexible fueled Vehicle). Most late model GM pickups are FFV, by the way (2002 or 3? and later). Check your owner's manual. But, when all factors are taken into account (such is the distilling process), it is not as "clean" as straight gasoline.
Every gallon of ethanol used, though, is a gallon we are not buying from a potential Islamic terrorist or communist Venezuelan crackpot.
Oh, another dirty little secret, ethanol has less energy content per gallon than gasoline, so your mileage IS going to be reduced, and the more ethanol in the mixture, the more your mileage will decrease and the more gallons of "gasoline" you will have to buy. But a farmer from the Midwest will be thanking you for it personally. Sure they will.
I agree with you. It's all about ratings. The press will give a story whatever slant they need to in order to sensationalize it, regardless of the damage it might do. Unfortunately, most people are too stupid to realize what's going on. I am really starting to believe that this country would be better off if we amended the Constitution to abolish freedom of the press clause.
Not on the stretch between Mainz and Kaiserslautern. Besides, unlike Americans, Germans know how to control their cars. I was going slow to conserve gas. At $6.00 a gallon it is not cheap. The Euro is overpriced, and we wanted to waste our money on other things.
That's the truth. They actually use turn signals. I travel to Ingelheim at least twice a year. I wish German rules of the road were enforced here.
Gas shortages?
Hardly!
The gas price keeps climbing!
If you need your car to get around, the rising price isn't going to stop that. Most of us require use of a car to get around.
Just the media trying to create the news instead of reporting the news.
Equipment failure part of reason for gas shortage
By TOM HOLDEN, The Virginian-Pilot
© April 21, 2006Equipment failure at a leading terminal for gasoline distribution is being cited as one reason Hampton Roads has suddenly found itself running low on gas.
At a Chesapeake energy storage and distribution terminal, a device that captures gasoline vapors failed last weekend and forced the terminal to close.
Repairs quickly followed, but disruptions in the gasoline supply rippled almost immediately through Hampton Roads. Shortages continued Thursday, keeping motorists guessing about where to find gas.
Some stations that were out of supplies Wednesday were replenished Thursday, while others waited for deliveries with no clear idea of when they would come.
The problem at the Chesapeake terminal was not the sole reason supplies were tight.
Other factors also were bearing down on the region’s gasoline supply, including the conversion to fuel containing ethanol additives and the annual switch to lower smog-producing summer blends.
A spokeswoman for Kinder Morgan, which runs the Chesapeake terminal, could not be reached to comment on equipment problems at the company.
Jeff Miller , president of Norfolk-based Miller Oil Co., whose BP and Exxon stations receive supplies from Kinder Morgan, said a “vapor burner” malfunctioned there Sunday. Vapor burners help manage gasoline fumes, Miller said.
The terminal closed, Miller said. “It was the main terminal for local BP and Exxon stations.”
Some stations had plans to obtain alternative supplies in Richmond, but with a conversion to gasoline with ethanol additives under way in that city as well, supplies were tight and lines were long.
“It was taking us six hours to get a truckload back to Hampton Roads from Richmond,” Miller said. “Normally you try to get 10 loads in 24 hours out of a truck.”
Industry experts have said the conversion to gasoline with ethanol additives has complicated the transportation, storage and distribution of gas and has helped create temporary shortages.
The new fuel blend is being introduced because the existing formula contains an octa ne-boosting additive called MTBE, or methyl tertiary butyl ether , that has raised environmental and health concerns. It is being phased out nationally.
Its replacement is ethanol, a type of alcohol made from corn. Storage tanks – both at terminals and at gas stations – must be nearly emptied and any residual water removed before fuel with ethanol is introduced, experts have said.
Water must be removed because unlike MTBE gas, which does not mix with water, ethanol fuel s combine with water, and that could affect engine performance.
The process of drawing down the storage tanks has produced disruptions in local supplies, and evidence of it played out across Hampton Roads, where finding fuel could sometimes be a game of chance.
Drivers were lining up at a Citgo station on North Battlefield Boulevard, north of Chesapeake General Hospital. Other stations along the business corridor ran dry.
But stations around Military Highway at Campostella that were dry Wednesday had gas for sale Thursday.
At the Old Town Tire and Auto Center in Portsmouth, motorists caught sight of a tanker refilling the pumps and by early morning, lines were forming.
Owner Gary Broughton said he had gotten about a dozen calls from people hunting for gas. The scene reminded him of the energy crunch of the 1980s.
“Keep it full,” he said, “because it’s not going to get any cheaper. Every day it goes up.”
He passed about nine stations on his way into work that were out of one or more types of gas, he said.
At Old Town, Martrice Bailey said she had first stopped for gas at a 7-Eleven that was out of everything but premium. Bailey wasn’t buying it – not the gas, nor the reasons she’s hearing for pumps running dry.
“There isn’t any real shortage,” she said. “It goes up every summer anyway.”
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