Sept 25, 2008 issue
Gasoline in Short Supply
Governor Says He’s Working on the Problem
Story by Kathleen McFadden
Gasoline is not available at every service station and convenience store in the High Country, but fuel was out there in some places on Wednesday afternoon, even though some stations had no mid-grade or premium fuel in their tanks.
The local situation is a sharp contrast with Asheville, where Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College officials announced that the school would close at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday and remain closed for students and staff at least through Sunday, officials with Buncombe County Schools said they only had enough gas to run buses for eight or nine days, and county and city governments canceled events and limited travel.
Toni Floyd, transportation director for Watauga County Schools, received a delivery on Wednesday of 7,500 gallons of diesel to power the district’s school buses. “We were down to two days,” Floyd said, but the diesel delivery should keep the buses running for about three weeks. “Crisis averted,” Floyd added.
However, Watauga County Schools has no gasoline in its tanks for service and maintenance vehicles. “Everyone has gas in their trucks now,” Floyd said, “and we’re trying to be as conservative as necessary.”
Finding fuel has been at least a three-hour per day job for the last 10 days, Floyd said.
AppalCART Director Chris Turner said the transportation authority received a diesel delivery on Tuesday night that will keep the buses on the roads, but AppalCART is completely out of biodiesel and Turner doesn’t know when the authority will be able to obtain more. Fuel deliveries have been slower than usual, Turner said, but he anticipates no cutbacks on AppalCART service.
Watauga County residents have reported a number of anecdotes about the local gas situation.
On Monday, when the per-barrel price of oil increased, one driver found signs posted at a local station indicating that the regular and mid-grade tanks were empty and only premium was available. However, the driver tried the low-octane pump and found that it contained gasoline, speculating that the operator wanted to stop sales of the lower-priced on-hand gasoline until the pump price could be adjusted to reflect the increase in the per-barrel price.
High Country Host staff members have fielded a number of calls from out-of-towners wanting to know if gasoline is available here.
A local service station operator reported that three people from Asheville purchased gasoline at his station on Wednesday afternoon.
Shortly after a driver pulled in to pump gas at a convenience store on Highway 421 late Wednesday afternoon, lines formed at the remaining pumps. The station had only premium-grade fuel available.
Several residents have reported stations with no gasoline available at all.
In the days following Hurricane Ike’s landfall in Texas, Attorney General Roy Cooper’s office began serving subpoenas on gas stations throughout the state in a price-gouging investigation. Subpoenas were issued to owners of stations in Fayetteville, Yadkinville, Greensboro, Old Fort, Statesville, Asheville, Troy, New Bern and Charlotte, requiring them to provide documentation to the attorney general’s office of their wholesale costs and retail prices.
Between Friday, September 12, and Wednesday, September 17, Cooper’s office received more than 3,700 reports of possible gas price gouging from consumers who reported stations charging from $4.49 to as much as $5.99 per gallon for gas.
Prices at local stations were in the $3.85 per gallon range for low-octane gas on Wednesday afternoon.
On Wednesday, Governor Mike Easley said that his office has been working with the major oil companies this week seeking the release of additional gasoline for western North Carolina.
“This is a temporary shortage. We have been assured by the oil companies that some supplies are on their way today and larger additional supplies are expected through the pipeline very soon,” Easley said in a release. “For the next few days, consumers should take some common sense steps to conserve gasoline like eliminating unnecessary trips and carpooling.”
The pipeline is being refilled, Easley’s office reported, but fuel is not coming through as quickly as it will be in a few days. The governor said he expected the situation to improve on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday.
“I ask people to please cooperate with each other and we will get through this shortfall,” the governor said.
Consumers can report suspected price gouging to the Attorney General’s Office by clicking to www.ncdoj.gov to fill out a price gouging complaint form or by calling 1-877-5-NO-SCAM toll-free within North Carolina.
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