Posted on 09/12/2001 10:19:55 AM PDT by McGruff
NEW YORK (AP) - Several gas stations lowered prices Wednesday, a day after attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, as state and federal officials threatened action against gougers.
At several locations, gas stations jacked up prices on Tuesday and motorists fearful of shortages scuffled in long lines at the pumps in the hours after the attacks.
In Topeka, Kan., a 78-year-old man was arrested Tuesday for aggravated assault after he allegedly pulled a pellet gun on another customer and bumped his car into another to get to a pump.
"We got an e-mail from Oklahoma City saying gas was over $6 a gallon," Ronda Hunter said Tuesday while waiting in line for gas in western Topeka. "The news said it was jumping to $4 a gallon. Is this madness or what?"
But by Wednesday morning, some gas stations were backing off their prices.
The R and L Texaco in Oklahoma City increased the price of unleaded gasoline to $5 a gallon after a supplier told the owner it was unclear when the next shipment would be available and at what price. But owner Ralph Pfenninger said he now realizes he overcharged customers and would be offering refunds.
Authorities in Oklahoma were investigating instances of price-gouging, while Mississippi's attorney general, Mike Moore, asked Gov. Ronnie Musgrove to declare a state of emergency, which would allow prosecutors to pursue price-gougers there.
At the Super Pumper Amoco station in Devils Lake, N.D., the price of a gallon of regular unleaded shot up to $3.29 Tuesday night, but dropped to $2.19 on Wednesday morning and would drop again when someone comes in to change the sign, said Caroll Lambert, the station's assistant manager.
Lambert said the price changes came on orders from the regional headquarters. Some customers asked for refunds, but she was not giving them out Wednesday morning.
"I'm just following orders," she said.
Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said the rising prices across the country were discussed at a Senate briefing Tuesday night, and he said Congress could take action soon to stop price gouging.
"That's the last thing that should be happening," Conrad said.
The nation's largest oil companies tried to allay concerns Tuesday by freezing their prices and pledging to keep distribution steady.
Gas prices rose almost immediately Tuesday in parts of the Midwest, where prices were already high because of distribution bottlenecks.
At Casey's General Store in Galesburg, Ill., the price of gas had climbed to $4 per gallon from $1.68 earlier in the day. In California, gasoline wholesalers raised prices by as much as 20 cents a gallon.
The average price of gasoline late last week, including all grades and taxes, was $1.56 per gallon, according to the Lundberg Survey of 8,000 stations nationwide.
In Washington, the American Petroleum Institute, the industry trade group, issued a statement reassuring motorists that there is no threat of a fuel shortage.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which controls about 40 percent of the world's oil, also said it was working to maintain stability.
Here in Oregon, gas prices are pretty much normal, and the gas station I went to last night was nearly empty.
In Lubbock, there were long lines that started at midday. I had already fueled my car in the morning on the way into the office. I managed to find a free pump to put gas in my new van at night; my very first full tank of gas. Yikes, she's a hog! Regular unleaded was all gone. But people seemed civil for the most part.
People hoarded immense amounts of toilet paper, tampons, paper towels etc. THe fear was self fufilling. All the stores ran out and the shortage was real. For about a month we couldn't keep the stuff in stock.
Media doomsters spooked the herd with bogus predictions of $4 a gallon and shortages. Last night in Indianapolis there were long lines at stations all over town. This morning no lines at all, price = $1.49/gal
GASOLINE SHORTAGE
The Prophets of Doom in Defense of State Intervention, 1970s:
"...obvious that gasoline could reach at least $2 a gallon after decontrol." --John Dingell
"...gas will cost $2 per gallon within a few years and $3 per gallon during the vehicle's lifetime." --Lester Brown, Worldwatch Institute
"...gasoline will soon go to $3 a gallon." --Senator Dale Bumpers, Defender of Liar-in-Chief Bill Clinton
"Ronald Reagan brushed aside energy issues during the campaign, insisting that shortages could be overcome by unleashing private enterprise. But not even his most fervent supporters in the energy business share that optimism. Virtually all private forecasts predict declining domestic oil production and liquid fuel shortages during the next decade." --New York Times
"There is a dwindling supply of energy sources. The prices are going to rise in the future no matter who is President, no matter what party occupies the administration in Washington, no matter what we do." --Jimmy "No Way No How" Carter, Master of Malaise
"We must adopt a system of gasoline rationing without delay...that demands a fair sacrifice from all Americans." --Senator Edward "Never Too Left" Kennedy
So what happened? Well, as was his style, Ronald Reagan ignored all the gloom-and-doom "Brain Trusters." In the first month of his administration (1981), he issued an Executive Order ending oil price controls. Within four months, the average price of unleaded gasoline fell from $1.41 to 86¢. Refineries' average cost of buying crude oil fell from more than $30 a barrel in 1981 to less than half of that by March 1986. And by the end of the 1980s, crude oil reserves were 41 percent higher than they were at the beginning of the decade.
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