TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Governor Jeb Bush said earlier this week that there is clearly a need for gas stations to have generators for quick restoration of service after hurricanes and hinted he may support bills requiring that, but said the state should not pay for it, said the Associated Press.
With motorists lining up for blocks last week in South Florida waiting for gasoline at the few stations where power had been restored, several politicians have suggested requiring generators at stations. Two bills have already been filed in the state legislature [image-nocss] to do so.
Bush said he would review the bills, but stopped short of pledging support. He added that stations should buy generators. Look at the supermarkets that were powered up with their own generators, very quickly getting product to their customers and compare that to the gas stations and you see that there's a need, Bush said.
The question is, should we subsidize it? And the answer is emphatically no, the governor said. I think that oil companiesand I'm not begrudging them their profitsbut they've done quite well, very well. And we shouldn't be subsidizing something that they have an obligation to do.
Officials in the gasoline industry have said some stations, particularly independently owned ones, might have a hard time buying generators, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars for the industrial-sized units that would be needed to run gas pumps.
State Senator Jeff Atwater (R) last week filed a measure (SB 530) that would require new retail stations to have an alternative means of powering gasoline dispensers in the event of an electricity outage. The requirement would start next June, when the 2006 hurricane season starts, but stations would have until December 2007 to comply.
A similar bill (SB 528) filed last week by Sen. Steve Geller (D) would require new stations, or those that undergo substantial renovations, to add generators.
There's a lot of lost economic activity because people are frozen in their place because they can't get gasoline in their cars, Bush said.
Separately, Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist's price gouging hot line has received a marked increase in complaints about overcharging for repairs and cleanup in the wake of Hurricane Wilma, he said, according to AP.
Crist said his office has received nearly 700 complaints of alleged price gouging related to Wilma. About 50 complaints have come in since Friday about cleanup crews. All are under investigation.
It is illegal for retailers to increase prices for items in high demand following a hurricane, such as food, water, hotel rooms, ice, gasoline, lumber and generators as well as services related to hurricane recovery except to recover increased costs.
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