ATLANTA -- The drought at the pump triggered by hurricanes Gustav and Ike is still hitting Atlanta hard, reported MyFox Atlanta-TV. State and industry officials said they are working as fast as they can to restore fuel and are urging people not to panic. Many motorists drove around metro Atlanta on Monday searching for any gas station that had fuel. Throughout the day, vehicles were lined up at gas stations in an attempt to fill up. Experts said Georgia's gasoline shortage will likely continue for the next couple of days.
By just making sure, Atlantans have just made a shortage. Worried [image-nocss] drivers have continued to top off tanks when they don't yet need gasoline, which drains supplies, forces many area stations to shut down and prevents pipelines from meeting demand. "We are still in catch-up mode," Jim Tudor, president of the Georgia Association of Convenience Stores (GACS), told The Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Yet in some places around metro Atlanta, and in most of the state, there has been no similar run on stations and consequently, no shutdowns of stations. "There are large areas of Georgia that have recovered," Tudor said. "There are areas of Atlanta that have caught up, where consumers are making fewer runs."
A majority of stations off Ga. 400 were out of gasoline by afternoon. In Cumming, off Exit 14, most stations were tapped out. Desperate commuters waited as long as 45 minutes at the few stations that still had fuel, said the report.
Thanks to taxes pegged to sales and to post-hurricane problems, Georgia now has the highest priced gas in the Lower 48, according to the report, citing GasBuddy: Monday, regular gasoline in metro Atlanta averaged $4.03 a gallon compared to the national average of $3.70.
Late Monday, in an effort to bolster supplies, Governor Sonny Perdue urged federal officials to allow local stations to sell higher-sulfur fuel.Meanwhile, fuel shortages in western North Carolina sparked fights between motorists waiting for gasoline, and Asheville imposed its own fuel conservation measures, said the Associated Press.
Some experts say Asheville's distance from the Colonial Pipeline could be adding to the shortage. The pipeline is the main source of East Coast gasoline supplies that were reduced after Hurricane Ike closed oil refineries on the Gulf Coast.
Analysts say the gasoline shortages across the Southeast should disappear in the next week, once Gulf Coast refineries resume normal production levels.
In the meantime, Asheville's city government will operate with minimal staffing levels because of the shortage, said Gary Jackson, the city manager. Fire and rescue, police, transit and sanitation services will operate at full capacity. Asheville also canceled all city-run athletic activities and evening programs.
Buncombe County deputy fire marshal Mack Salley said he has talked to local distributors who said they are sending trucks to get gas and they are coming back empty. "Our deliveries have been at reduced rates for almost 20 days, so that's a long time not to be able to meet the market demand," Colonial Pipeline spokesperson Steve Baker told The Asheville Citizen-Times.
Monday, about 50% of Nashville, Tenn.'s stations were out of gasoline, and on Tuesday officials said the gasoline supply was slowly building back up, reported NewsChannel5-TV.
At the same time, long lines were still found at the pumps, and the lines have made some wonder what would happen if the situation was worse, said the report. The state has a plan called the Tennessee Petroleum Contingency Plan. If fuel levels dropped to a crisis level, the plan would be put in place. Drivers would be capped at a certain level of fuel. Employers would be asked to put a ride-sharing program in place for their employees, and the maximum interstate speed limit of 70 miles per hour would be dropped to 65.
When the gasoline shortage peaked last Friday, 85% of middle Tennessee stations were out of fuel, the report said.
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