Why? Wouldn't higher prices mean slower sales? What's going on?
$10.00 a gal.
In other words, the EcoFreaks have caused the "shortage." Perfect.
Plenty here in the York-Lancaster (PA) area.
Unleaded Regular is now at $2.99/gal, Unleaded Plus at $3.19/gal, and Unleaded Premium at $3.39/gal.
Screw this, where are the atomic cars that Trueman promised us?
Oh no not gas lines again!
Kinda reminds me of how the California energy crisis was played out.
AAA spokeswoman Cathy Rossi told Baldini that the shortages were due to "logistics."
She said that a switch from MTBE to ethanol as a fuel additive is causing the shortages.
Rossi said the shortages were expected to be temporary.
Expect GAS PRICE CRISIS! articles from the drive by media EVERY DAY this summer.
I have noticed several gas stations lately here in Hampton Roads that were out of gas. I marked it up to another “gas shortage” like we had in 1973 – with a giant price hike to follow.
The evening news had the reason as a lead item – we are converting to ethanol, and old stuff has to be pumped out of the tanks and returned to the refinery, then refilled with the corn liquor mix.
I just bought a new car. The owner’s manual states plainly that ethanol should not be used.
Most gas stations were out in the Hampton Roads area over the last few days. Mine was for 3 days. Finally got a shipment in today.
Gas shortages?
Hardly!
The gas price keeps climbing!
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.”