Gasoline crunch deepens, NYC taxi firms run out of fuel

Reuters via Yahoo ^ | 1/1/12 | David Sheppard and Suzanne Barlyn

[Kartographer]

New York taxi and car service companies started pulling vehicles off the road on Thursday as the fuel crunch deepened, with the vast majority of storm-hit service stations in the greater New York area now out of gasoline or without power.

Outages and fuel shortages have forced many gasoline stations to shut, and now threaten efforts in New York and New Jersey to get back to business after Hurricane Sandy.

Large numbers of homes and businesses that have lost power are also reliant on gasoline- or diesel-run generators, including many of the Wall Street banks in lower Manhattan.

[Vince Ferrer]

What is the federal government doing right now about relief efforts? Anyone know anything specific?

[IMR 4350]

They are also going to be running out of food and with roads blocked no way to get more food in.

A lot of people in the inner cities depend on restaurants for their food.

I have a feeling they are about to learn the value of the 2nd amendment.

[Buckeye McFrog]

What is the federal government doing right now about relief efforts? Anyone know anything specific?

Probably writing position papers to guide policy statements to facilitate discussions on cross-jurisdictional issues vis-a-vis preparing the IT reporting systems for complying with OSHA and EEOC requirements in the pre-bidding of reconstruction contracts.

[memyselfandi59]

The good news is I read a lot of the comments, they’re onto Obama. They realize he had his photo op and now they’re on their own, with no help from FEMA as promised. People are waking up.

Interesting comment, a few were talking about going green and not having the problem if they had. One poster chimes in and says I’d use my electric car, if I had gas to run my generator so I could charge it.

[alice_in_bubbaland]

We just got back from Stroudsburg Pennsylvania to hunt for gas. We went off the beaten track, had to wait in line only a 30 mins to fill our tank and two 5 gal gas cans. Right off Rt. 80 the lines were insane.

Yesterday, the NJ State Police were guarding a Shell Station off rt. 80 in Allamuchy, NJ as well as many other stations in Morris County. It’s horrific out there!

I fear as time goes by and power outages continue this is gonna explode.

“Down the Shore” it’s a war zone. My daughter says it’s devastating, they are pulling bodies out of homes and waterways. She and her husband,spent the morning helping clean out Mackey’s Marina. Mr. Mackey has lost his home but is buying everyone coffee and lunch. Everytime I speak to her she breaks down in tears, her friends and neighbors have lost everything.

Right now she has no job, no power no work. It’s hard to listen...so sad.

God bless everyone down there!

[databoss]

By Monday martial law will be in place....

[11th_VA]

Romney needs to run a commercial showing his number 1 goal is energy Independence - Drill baby Drill !!!

[11th_VA]

I’m in Northern VA - no big lines yet but many pumps are dry. Just filled all my cars. I think a lot of people missed the last news cycle - out for Holloween. Now reality is about to catch up.

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Really good point.

[anoldafvet]

Nice try but until today when the EPA lifted its’ “designer blends” mandate, it was illegal to ship gasoline into New York from another state.

[Kartographer]

How long before someone gets killed for a 5 gallon can of gas?

[arista]

Nice try but until today when the EPA lifted its’ “designer blends” mandate, it was illegal to ship gasoline into New York from another state. Obviously, anti-gouging laws are not the only regulations that prevent the market from working.

[arista]

Nice try but until today when the EPA lifted its’ “designer blends” mandate, it was illegal to ship gasoline into New York from another state.

Obviously, anti-gouging laws are not the only regulations that prevent the market from working.

[PMAS]

Now the National Guard is guarding the gas stations here by my work - the line is 1 mile long long and 3 hour wait.

[Kartographer]

Just finished posting about that:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2953414/posts

[PMAS]

This could get ugly if it continues through next week

[PA Engineer]

You can believe what you want to believe, but between the 'read-between-the-lines' stuff in the news and the firsthand accounts coming in from FReepers. This thing is going nuclear very soon!

I believed this would happen from the beginning, especially when ConEd cut the power. I am continually amazed at the lack of imagination on the part of people, elected officials and emergency management.

This scenario was foreseeable based on only one factor and then the resulting cascade. Without power, high density urban society collapses immediately.

Modern urban dwellers (and others) have been lulled into a technology trap. They have replaced a minimum of self-sufficiency with the false god of dependency. Many of these problems could have been easily mitigated with a basic degree of individual preparation. Three days is a nice start, but nevertheless it is folly. Two weeks worth of preps would have allowed the modern urban society to begin to get back on it's feet while minimizing the human tragedy.

This entire crisis was predicable.

[Kartographer]

"This entire crisis was predicable."

And yet some of my preparedness threads have prep scoffers showing up on the even now, with a prefect example right before their eyes.

[metmom]

Photos of the NJ shore.

25 Incredible Pictures Of Hurricane Sandy’s Destruction In New Jersey
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/incredible-pictures-of-hurricane-sandys-new-jerse

Sandy Devastates NJ
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/sandy-devastates-new-jersey-slideshow/

[IMR 4350]

Go look at Drudge what's up now. They are dumpster diving.

I think this could get real nasty real quick.