[BabyPeanut]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('thorn', 'I')n Frederick, someone told me that a gas station did not increase their prices as the others around it did. So people just drained it, the station ran out of gas!!! It was around $2.89 while the others were $3+.

[BabyPeanut]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')url=http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=f40c6064-c350-4657-8220-3bc2b168d2e1]Gasoline prices surge, sporadic shortages spread across United States (link)[/url] BY Brad Foss Canadian Press Friday, 2 Sep 2005
WASHINGTON (CP) - Supplies ran dry at a small-but-growing number of gas stations across the United States on Thursday as Gulf of Mexico coast refiners and pipelines remained hobbled by hurricane Katrina and motorists nervous about tightening supplies lined up to top off their tanks.
Most of the stations with Out of Gas signs and yellow caution tape draped across their pumps were concentrated along the East Coast and in Midwest states. Station owners said many of the shortages were temporary, exacerbated by panic buying and delayed deliveries.

A few stations turned off their pumps because wholesale prices were rising so fast that they were selling fuel at a loss - even as prices spiked overnight to levels well above $3 US a gallon.
Governors in Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania urged motorists to conserve fuel and they warned retailers about alleged price gouging. U.S. President George W. Bush also called for conservation and sought to calm motorists, saying that Katrina would only cause a "temporary disruption" to the supply of gasoline.

Gas stations ran dry in many states, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Resort hotels also reported cancellations as some drivers opted to stay home instead of facing uncertain gas supplies over the Labour Day weekend. And no matter what the underlying causes of the worst gasoline supply crunch since the 1970s, many consumers were alternately incredulous and irate.

"I've never seen anything like this," said 47-year-old Robert Weems, who waited in line for three hours Thursday morning at a gas station 40 kilometres north of Jackson, Miss., before the pumps ran dry. He eventually found gas nearby for $2.39 a gallon. "It's a black mark on our energy policy - one storm wiping us out like this."
Frustration also ran high in cities far from Katrina's path, where the supply of gasoline, diesel and other fuels continues to tighten because of power outages that have stymied Gulf coast pipelines and refineries.

"Out of our 34 stores, we've had two or three a day that have been out of gasoline for part of the day," said Jay Ricker, president of Ricker Oil Co. in Anderson, Ind. Ricker's gas is priced at $3.19 a gallon, following a 70-cent-per-gallon increase at the wholesale level since Tuesday.
Ricker said the worry among some motorists that gasoline will become unavailable is unwarranted and that, by pushing demand to unnatural levels, they were exacerbating the problem. "The system is not designed to have everybody's tank topped off," he said.

But the country's energy supply chain is designed in a way that puts enormous pressure on Gulf coast oil producers, refiners and pipeline companies that have been severely limited in the amount of fuel they can deliver to consumers up and down the East Coast.
more at web site

[something_awfull]

What a bizarre story, why are people so highy strung like that?

[thorn]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('BabyPeanut', 'Y')es, 5 AM on Monday I was at a Sunoco that had no regular but at the low price of 2.81 in theory.
$3.49 doesn't even get you on the top ten here: LINK

[thorn]

From:
Green Car Congress
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')RS Waives Dyed Diesel Tax Penalty Due to Hurricane
2 Sep 2005
In response to the growing shortage of on-road diesel fuel resulting from the disruptions caused by Hurricane Katrina, the IRS is waiving the tax penalty for the sale or use of dyed diesel fuel on the highway.
This relief applies beginning 25 August in Florida; 30 August in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi; and 31 August in the rest of the United States. It remains in effect through 15 September.

Both the IRS and the EPA use a red dye to designate different qualities of fuel. The IRS uses the red dye to identify diesel normally sold for uses exempt from excise tax, such as to farmers for farming or to local governments for buses.
The EPA uses a red dye to designate high-sulfur, off-road diesel. The IRS waiver might get confusing, except that the EPA has also waived its low-sulfur requirements in response to Katrina. (Earlier post.)

Selling dyed diesel for the wrong applications carriers penalties at the federal level from the IRS and EPA, and also at a state level, where it can even be considered a felony.
The IRS relief is available to any person that sells or uses dyed fuel for highway use. In the case of the operator of the vehicle in which the dyed fuel is used, the relief is available only if the operator or the person selling the fuel pays the tax of 24.4 cents per gallon.

[tokyo_to_motueka]

link
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'R')efiners and wholesalers were restricting the amount of fuel that retailers east of the Rocky Mountains could buy, said Dan Gilligan, president of the Petroleum Marketers Association of America.

[ozkrenske]

Explain to me please how this Fuel tax relief isn't just another tax cut to large organisations. You still have to pay the tax and then claim it back. So for most people it will be a severe headache keeping track and then complicating your tax situation for maybe $10. But large companies, and fuel sellers / oil companies get the benefit. (If the fuel seller pays the tax they get to regain that money but I am sure they will still sell at the higher price to the individual.)

This is not relief for the motorist it's another corporate give away.

[DerelictOverlord]

Oz,The red fuel is used in contruction, mining, and farm equipment. The article is stating that it is, for the time being, legal to use this cheaper fuel on the highways without repercussion. It is a benefit to those who drive over ther road and to the refineries who may have stockpiles of the red fuel which they may now ship to highway vendors.

While I'm thinking about it, this may cause industrial disruptions because fuel purchased by industry is usually bought on a yearly contract. If the oil companies figure out that their dyed fuel is worth more on the open market it is a possiblity that some of the purchasers who are currently hedged via contract will lose their supply.

[Specop_007]

Well, least he didnt shoot the guy.
Article
Police say Jackson man, angry at gas line-cutter, fires shot in air
By Jack Mazurak jmazurak@clarionledger.com
Tempers exploded in a south Jackson gas station line this morning as an angry driver shot into the air.
Jackson police charged Lloyd Coleman with a misdemeanor count of discharging a weapon in city limits. The shots were fired at at 10:45 a.m. at the Pilot Travel Center on Gallatin Street, just south of I-20.
"He had waited in line two-to-three hours. Somebody from the back cut in front of him. (Coleman) tried to talk to the driver, but he wouldn't listen," Jackson Police officer B. Sanders said.

Coleman grabbed his black .357 revolver and fired one round straight into the air to get the driver's attention, Sanders said. No one was injured. Police did not have the other driver's name or more information on Coleman.
"Everybody's frustrated out here," Sanders said, gesturing to the half-mile stretch of cars waiting for gas.
Pilot station general manager Mike Berry ordered employees to close off the station shortly after the shooting. He said his tanks were nearly out of gas, and the rest is reserved for emergency and relief vehicles responding to problems related to Hurricane Katrina.

Berry would not comment further.
As word of the closing spread through the line, drivers wheeled their cars around in search of other open stations.
"I was in line but didn't know (about the shot fired)," north Jackson resident Markus Taylor said. "I've been waiting in line for two hours. I'm about to run out of gas now. My (gas warning) light is on."
Almost four days after Hurricane Katrina hit the metro area, power outages still abound. Without power, many gas stations can't pump. Wherever stations open, such as the Pilot, long lines form quickly.
"It's just crazy out here," Taylor said.

[MD]

I can relate to the shooter's anger.
Polite behavior, like waiting your turn in line, seems to be seriously in decline in America.
I was on Navy pier in queue for the Ferris Wheel when a man brazenly walked up to an Asian tourist at the head of the line and asked if he could join him. The Asian tourist let him in. I asked the Asian if he knew the people and he said no, but he could barely speak english
This man thinks he won a victory, but what of the lesson he taught to his two daughters? Perhaps they will be shot by some irritated but polite citizen some day because they think "me first at any price" is acceptable behavior in polite society.
Rational anarchy will be a very rude awakening for some.

[I_Like_Plants]

What's funny is cars burn up a LOT of gas while idling - idling is a pet peeve of mine, I used to have a small shop next to a blueprint shop and customers of the blueprint place would idle their cars for 10-20-30 minutes, it was nuts.

[backstop]

Spec-As you say, at least he didn't shoot him.
I've long seen society as a voluntary co-operative affair - the epitomy of which is the orderly, respectful and at best cheerful queue.
It intrigues me that this social convention remains above legal enforcement around the world, so far as I know.
If I were to go in for judging national cultures' quality, and their prospects under the converging stresses of GW + PO, I think the upholding of the well-mannered queue would be a prime indicator.

[eric_b]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MD', 'I') can relate to the shooter's anger.
Polite behavior, like waiting your turn in line, seems to be seriously in decline in America.

[MD]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('backstop', 'I')f I were to go in for judging national cultures' quality, and their prospects under the converging stresses of GW + PO, I think the upholding of the well-mannered queue would be a prime indicator

[Leanan]

Honestly, some times I think line-cutters should be shot.
I went to a restaurant once with a friend who was very ill. She was dying of cancer, and wanted to spend some time with her friends. She was in a wheelchair. The restaurant was busy, and there was a line. We waited for 20 minutes, and it was hard on my friend. Finally we were at the front of the line, and suddenly this woman sails up and cuts in front of us, as bold as you please. Another of my friends said, "Excuse me, we were here first. The back of the line is over there."
The line-cutter didn't even have the grace to apologize and pretend she hadn't noticed there was a line. She got all huffy, said something rude, and stomped out. I mean, jeez. What kind of person would cut in front of an invalid in a wheelchair?

[something_awfull]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('eric_b', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MD', 'I') can relate to the shooter's anger.
Polite behavior, like waiting your turn in line, seems to be seriously in decline in America.

[Waterthrush]

Advertising has glorified the idea that the Alpha People go to the head of the line. How many car ads have shown the featured model as cutting ahead of every other car? Advertising constantly rams home the idea that "tough" is the ultimate adjective, and advertising sells the image of the unfeeling, impolite, short-tempered "tough man" as the ultimate being.

There is also a weird sense of entitlement in many people. I had a co-worker who routinely cut into traffic and blamed the people who waited: "I don't know how they can afford to wait in line. I can't," with the implication that people who cut into lines were better - more tough? - than people who waited.

My highway motto is "Easy Driver." That, and my Star Trek sound effects keychain, that launches (quietly) photon torpedos, gets me through it.

[backstop]

Waterthrush -a pastime you may find as enjoyable as I do is surprising pedestrians by stopping to let them cross, and making space for other drivers when they wouldn't expect it.
Some of the reactions are a delight !

[I_Like_Plants]

Being polite in traffic is SUCH a gas! Being polite to peds in crosswalks, making way for other drivers, recognizing that bicyclists exist, etc., it's often so surprising that it's a great reward, like "the ultimate revenge". Since I got rid of my car, I don't get to be the nice driver I get to be the nice bicyclist, or at least try.

[BabyPeanut]

Went riding around in a friend's car and saw lots of gas stations in Maryland with plastic bags over the pumps and price numbers removed from the signs and middle digits in prices removed and stuff. I do talk about Peak Oil to this friend but he's sitting on the fence about it. Today was an eye-opener for him though.