Atlanta Gas Shortages(?), Long Lines, Prices Ramping!
By Michael on Aug 31, 2005 in Current Events
I’m sitting here listening to the Georgia Governor telling people to stay calm about the rising gas prices but I just came in from a short trip to the store and it’s getting hectic out there. I headed to the store at about 4:05 PM today and noticed that the station closest to my house was in the midst of changing their prices. At that time all of the prices started with a ‘2′ and their middle numbers were missing. When I came back about 30 minutes later the prices were 3.09 to 3.29 (pictures of that station below). Also, premium gas at another station I passed on the way to the store jumped 56 cents to 3.56 while I was in the store! Lines were about 10 cars long on my trip to the store and were noticeably longer, even spilling out into the street, on my way back home. Looks like it’ll be a fun weekend!
Here are a couple of pics of the station nearest my house. The man in front of the white truck works at the station and was directing traffic.
P.S. The news is now saying that people are reporting 4 and 5 dollar prices throughout the metro area.
Update @ 5:33 - The news just showed a station with a price of $5.57 and the station across the street was in the process of modifying their price from $5 something
Upodate 2: Terry also has a post about what’s going on in Georgia today, including the Governor’s sanctions against price gougers.
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6 Comment(s)
By Tony S. on Aug 31, 2005 | Reply
This is ridiculous, prices are currently posting at $5.59 in some places. We won’t be able to afford going to work shortly. Telecommuting will hopefully be seriously considered now.
By Duru on Aug 31, 2005 | Reply
Uh….who’s laughing at $100 oil now? I still feel like this is just the beginning of our unfolding energy drama. There are still a LOT of folks who believe that oil will be dropping back to $40 a barrell any day now. Brace yourselves!
By txtrader on Aug 31, 2005 | Reply
That’s insane.Yup $100 a barrel sounds about right,especially with a LOT of people betting against that.Sure am glad I work from home.I’m sure there is some heavy gouging going on across the country with the holiday weekend,Hurricanes,etc…What a mess!
By chud on Aug 31, 2005 | Reply
Dang, Is that specific to Atlanta, and if so why?
As far as I know gas in my neck of the woods is roughly what it was yesterday.
By Duru on Sep 1, 2005 | Reply
WSJ is reporting price spikes all across the midwest, southeast, and even parts of the northeast. Ironically enough, the rest of y’all have left Cali way behind now. Now if we could just export our housing inflation too…
By Duru on Sep 1, 2005 | Reply
Here is a snippet from that WSJ article: “Surge in Gasoline Prices Sparks Dire Comparisons and Forecasts”
Arkansas
The stream of cars flowing through Arkansas as the New Orleans area was evacuated created serious demand for gasoline. Some stations were reported to have run out of fuel. In Flippin, Ark., Citgo station owner Jim Miller planned Tuesday to raise his price to $2.99 a gallon. “If the regular unleaded goes above $2.99, I just won’t sell gas,” Mr. Miller said. Ann Hines, director of the Arkansas Oil Marketers Association, says consumers also have filled or topped off their tanks since the storm hit, and that has contributed to the excess demand. Lack of barge traffic on the Mississippi River and equipment problems at a Memphis refinery are also contributing to the problems.
Florida
Evacuees from Louisiana and Gulf coast communities in Mississippi and Alabama flocked to Florida, which was earlier hit by a less-powerful Katrina. The State relies heavily on gasoline supply from other Gulf coast states, and prices were rising fast — gasoline that sold for $2.60 a gallon Tuesday in Tallahassee was selling for $2.75 on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported. But in the Orlando area, prices had fallen slightly at some stations despite an influx of visitors. At a Crescent Shell station in Kissimmee, about 30 minutes from Walt Disney World, manager Ikram Ali said he was charging $2.56 a gallon, trying to stay competitive even as his tanks ran low. He said he wasn’t sure why, but that more people seemed to be in the area.
In Miami, more than 600 truckers recently gathered in their big rigs to protest the rising prices in South Florida. According to local media reports, traffic in the area was at a standstill as the trucks started a caravan to travel 20 miles to Miami City Hall to present a petition requesting a fuel surcharge break for independently owned trucks.
North Carolina
Residents of one western North Carolina county were asked to conserve fuel and government agencies were told to limit nonessential travel. Jerry VeHaun, Buncombe County emergency services director, said Tuesday that fuel and natural gas pipelines in Mississippi and Louisiana that provide fuel to suppliers in western North Carolina have lost power. “Don’t make any unnecessary trips until this is over,” Mr. VeHaun advised residents in the Asheville area. “It’s not going to be a long-term thing, I don’t think.”
Along West Wendover Ave. in Greensboro, some places already were charging $3 for regular unleaded gasoline Tuesday night. Wholesale prices from the Gulf of Mexico, where the state gets most of its gas, reached $3 a gallon Tuesday. “If I pay $3 for it, I’ll have to charge $3 for it,” said Jim Crump, who runs nine convenience stores in Hickory, Lenoir and Morganton. Tiara Kitt skipped an early-morning fill-up Tuesday when the price at a nearby convenience store was $2.49 a gallon. Three hours later, at 8 a.m. Eastern, the price was $2.65 a gallon at the same store, she said. “I don’t have a choice,” Ms. Kitt said as she filled up her Ford Windstar. At the Trade Mart on 10th Street, East Carolina University student Safa Sheppherd filled up her car after the station’s regular unleaded supplies were replenished about 2 p.m. Eastern. The station, however, was still out of plus gasoline. Ms. Sheppherd wasn’t concerned about an increase: “I don’t believe in all the hype,” she said. “I am against the rush.”
Tennessee
FedEx, the large parcel shipping company that makes its home in Memphis, was dealing with higher fuel costs both on the ground and in the air. “Obviously it’s a concern for everybody — you can’t ignore that,” said spokeswoman Sally Davenport. “We’re using a surcharge to help mitigate the effect of rolling fuel prices.” FedEx enacted the fuel surcharge on shipments several years ago, and it is adjusted monthly. For August and September, FedEx Express imposed 12.5% monthly fuel surcharges, but it could take as long as six weeks for FedEx to pass on the charge to customers.
In central Tennessee, gasoline prices were still below average but rising. In Cheatham County, near Nashville, higher prices started to take a toll on keeping school buses up and running. The district is hoping not to exceed its $220,000 fuel budget, which could be difficult considering it costs $235 to fill up each bus’s 90-gallon tank. And with 85 buses on the roads, the district’s gasoline bill runs about $25,000 a month.
New Jersey
Many commuters in the tri-state area use public transportation, but were still feeling the effects of high prices. Almost overnight, prices in New Jersey surged past $3 a gallon, and could hit $4 a gallon before supplies recover, according to the Oil Price Information Service. The situation drew the attention of New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who held a news conference Wednesday at the Triangle Exxon in Fort Lee, N.J., to discuss how President Bush can lower gasoline prices. In South Orange, residents posted comments to an online message board on where to buy gasoline. “Who knows — maybe everyone’s prices will be sky-higher by the end of the day,” on person wrote on SouthOrangeVillage.com.
New York
In New York City, the daily fleet of taxi cabs patrolling the city are the most likely to bear the brunt of higher prices. The Taxi and Limousine Commission, which sets rates for the city’s 12,187 “medallion” cabs, said it has no plans to increase fares. Upstate, Bill Adams owns the Exxon Station in Fairport, N.Y. and is president of the Gas Dealers Association of Rochester. He recently told a local television station that he gets daily faxes from his distributor reflecting new prices. “The major oil companies, the Exxon-Mobils, are looking for any excuse to raise the price of gas,” Mr. Adams said. “A hurricane coming through the market, a little unrest in the Middle East and their windfall profits are enormous. Overnight there was a 10 cent increase and with the taxes and everything else, it’ll probably be a 12 cent increase at the pumps Wednesday.”
New England
Motorists were dismayed Wednesday to see prices surged nearly 30 cents overnight in some cases, hitting $3.14 at one station in Maine and $2.99 at several locations in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. Matt McKenzie, spokesman for AAA-Northern New England, predicted prices would hit $3.70 to $3.80 by month’s end, causing frugal Yankees to begin carpooling, cutting back errands and maybe even scaling back leaf-peeping trips.
In Maine, Stan Sawyer, superintendent of the school district in Westbrook, recently told the New York Times that higher prices have impacted busing. The district has rerouted buses over the last few months, condensed runs, and is now considering curbing field trips for the year and extending the walking distance to and from school. His district has budgeted heating-oil purchases at only $1.60 a gallon — well below even the current commodity market price. “There isn’t any wiggle room,” Mr. Sawyer told the Times. “Something like this, we’re going to try to do cost estimates about how much it will cost and make it up somewhere else in the budget. It’s not only a hardship in Westbrook. It’s a hardship in schools throughout the country.”
Nebraska
Residents of the state’s largest city, Omaha, fumed about higher prices. A forum on TheOmahaChannel.com opened up with the line, “I hate to say I told you so, but with 6 refineries damaged, 4 dollars a gallon here we come.” The forum goes on to mention “scrupulous people” like Tom Cullinane, owner of Southwest Tire in Millard, Neb. He appeared on the local news, saying he will not raise prices until he has to pay for his next shipment, continuing to charge the same price for the gas he already has in his tanks in the ground, because he already paid for it. “Bless his heart,” one forum poster wrote. “I bet he did a land-office business tonight! (He’d have had OURS, if we didn’t live 30 miles from his station).” That same poster advised others to boycott anyone charging more than $3 a gallon, “because in no WAY did they have to pay an exorbitant price for that gas … the TRUE price hike because of the hurricane shouldn’t be felt nationwide for a couple of weeks.” And in the words of Mr. Cullinane …”they’ve had hurricanes in the Gulf PLENTY of times, why wasn’t there gas shortages and price hikes THEN?”
California
California long has been home to high gasoline prices because of environmental reasons, and the recent surge in prices put the state more in line with the rest of the nation. Even before Hurricane Katrina sent prices higher, 40% of Californians said high gasoline prices had forced them to cut back on other areas of spending, according to a new Field Poll. Among those with a household income greater than $80,000 annually, the poll’s highest bracket, 26% of those surveyed said they had cut back on spending.
In San Francicso, there was little change to the number of people riding mass transit. The Bay Area’s biggest transit agency, BART, says it has seen only a slight increase of 2% to 3% since gasoline prices started their latest march upward. Down south in sprawling Los Angeles, carpooling ramped up.
Washington State
While most of Washington’s gasoline is imported from Alaska, drivers in the Puget Sound area drivers could suffer thanks to crude-oil shortfalls caused by Katrina, according to a report in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. “It’s like saying that because Starbucks and Microsoft are based here, coffee and software should be cheaper in Washington,” Anita Mangels, a spokeswoman for trade group The Western States Petroleum Association, told the paper. The price of regular gasoline in Washington climbed Monday to an all-time high, as measured in dollars not adjusted for inflation, averaging $2.73 a gallon, compared with $2.67 a gallon a week earlier.
Washington, D.C.
Despite costly fuel, almost 500,000 residents surrounding the nation’s capital are planning trips over the long weekend, according to a recent AAA Mid-Atlantic survey. Including airplane and rail travelers, more than 530,000 area residents, or more than 11% of the local population, plan to travel more than 50 miles. Nationwide, 34.5 million vacationers are planning trips of more than 50 miles over Labor Day — 83% of them by car. “They’ll go to their familiar hunting grounds: the beaches, the mountains, those sorts of things,” said auto club spokesman John Townsend. Top destinations include seashore towns like Virginia Beach and Ocean City, Md., along with state parks, lakeside resorts and amusement parks.
Hawaii
The state’s relative isolation already has inflated gasoline prices. The average price for regular unleaded gasoline in Hawaii currently is $2.84, according to AAA; nationwide, the average price is $2.61, according to the Department of Energy. Hawaii recently moved to cap gasoline prices — the first such attempt in the U.S. since the Arab oil embargo three decades ago, and a move that isn’t supported by Gov. Linda Lingle. Hawaii’s legislature first authorized a cap on wholesale gasoline prices in 2002, and amended it last year to rein in what have long been higher prices than those on the mainland. The state plans to set a weekly cap that is pegged to an index made up of average wholesale prices in California, the East Coast and the Gulf Coast. Hawaii’s Public Utilities Commission imposed its first such ceilings, which took effect Wednesday.