[I_Like_Plants]

I can't believe how widespread the effects are, Maryland? I can imagine gas supply problems right around NO sure, but the problems appear to cover a huge area.

[Leanan]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')That, and my Star Trek sound effects keychain, that launches (quietly) photon torpedos, gets me through it.

[BabyPeanut]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('I_Like_Plants', 'I') can't believe how widespread the effects are, Maryland? I can imagine gas supply problems right around NO sure, but the problems appear to cover a huge area.

[BabyPeanut]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')url=http://www.suntimes.com/output/hurricane/cst-nws-hgas03.html]Gas shortages crimp travel plans (link)[/url]
3 Sep 2005 BY MARGOT HABIBY
Gasoline shortages and prices above $3 and even $4 a gallon are crimping travel plans for the Labor Day holiday weekend.
"If people are going to travel, it's at their own peril,'' said Susan Broughton, communications director for the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America in Reston, Va. "Across the eastern two-thirds part of the country, the supply situation is dire."
Motorists waited in lines more than a mile long, draining supplies at some service stations in Georgia, North Carolina and Mississippi. Prices for regular-grade gas soared more than 50 cents a gallon in some regions this week, as refineries and pipelines shut down because of Hurricane Katrina, leading some suppliers to ration deliveries.

Brad Proctor, founder of GasPriceWatch, which calculates the prices for regular-grade gasoline from volunteer spotters, said he received reports of 75 gasoline stations running out of fuel Wednesday. They were mainly in Ohio, Georgia, Illinois and Wisconsin. ...skip... The average pump price nationwide for regular-grade gasoline was $3.08 a gallon Friday, up from $2.62 three days ago, according to GasPriceWatch.
At those prices, it would cost up to $69.30 to fill the 22.5-gallon tank of a Ford Explorer, the most popular U.S. sport-utility vehicle.
The highest average U.S. gasoline price on record is $3.14 a gallon, when adjusted for inflation, in March 1981.

''It's going to be hard for a lot of people to all of a sudden start paying triple what they were paying just three years ago,'' said Tim Dornfeld, 26, a sales representative for a litigation support company in Chicago, who was filling his Chevrolet Astro van.
...snip...

[BabyPeanut]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')url=http://www.axcessnews.com/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=5522]Gasoline Shortages Rising at Stations Nationwide (link)[/url] 3 Sep 2005 By Armando Duke
(AXcess News) Reno NV - Gas stations in Reno were running out of regular gasoline Saturday after Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn assured residents there that there were no fuel shortages.
A spokesperson for the Nevada Petroleum Marketers Association told AXcess News that motorists needn't be alarmed as gas stations were on regular delivery schedules and that the shortages seen at stations across the state was due to consumers buying more fuel than normal.
While officials offer assurances that the gas supplies are available, consumers are growing concerned when they see the stations they normally frequent posting "out of gas" signs.

[ozkrenske]

DerelictOverlord, I was really targettting the IRS relief not the relaxation by the EPA. If I have it right you can now sell lower quality/restricted diesel without suffering Federal penalties. But the IRS has also decided to refund the tax.
This IRS decision surely means (since it is afte sale rebating) that the Oil companies can get a big chunk of money back, Or that large companies which can economically track fuel use in a 2 week period can get some money back. The 'small' guy is going to get no relief. I believe the tax rebate windfall is somewhere in the order of 2+ billion to the Oil companies, while they are selling at a massive premium.

Why did the IRS not simply drop the tax for the period, that would of benefitted the people, all the people. Making it a rebate means the 'big' guy wins. Corporate Welfare.
It's stuff like this that will eventually cause anti capitalist Guerilla movements. (only half joking about the guerilla movements)

[jdmartin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('backstop', 'W')aterthrush -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 !

[Leanan]

I've noticed that in Boston, people will always stop and let you out. While in NY or NJ, forget it.
I've come to the conclusion that this is because in Boston, if no one lets you out, you'll never get out. And everyone knows that one day, it'll be them sitting on the driveway or sideroad, trying to get out.

The fuel problems are definitely spreading. On Wednesday, a friend of mine in Ohio said some stations had raised prices, but the discounters had not. By Friday, all the gas stations in her area were well over $3. She had been planning to drive to Philadelphia for the long weekend with her sisters, but they decided not to, because of the gas situation.
And she thought I was nutty when I told her to fill up her minivan last Sunday...

[Pops]

One thing allowing off-road diesel to be used on the highway will of course make it scarcer and more costly for farmers. I told my neighbors they might want to fill all their tanks (1,500 gal) last Monday.

No shortages in SW MO that I’ve heard but the price on I44 is over $3 – seems to be tracking the national average pretty close now though it was about $.20 under last year at this time.

[Leanan]

CNN this morning showed a line of cars over a mile long in Biloxi. They were waiting in line for gas. And get this: there was no gas. The gas station was dry, but somehow, a rumor spread that the station had gas, and the line formed.

[Specop_007]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', 'O')ne thing allowing off-road diesel to be used on the highway will of course make it scarcer and more costly for farmers. I told my neighbors they might want to fill all their tanks (1,500 gal) last Monday.
No shortages in SW MO that I’ve heard but the price on I44 is over $3 – seems to be tracking the national average pretty close now though it was about $.20 under last year at this time.

[DerelictOverlord]

It's harvest time spec. The corn and soybeans need to come in about now.

[Starvid]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('backstop', 'W')aterthrush -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]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Starvid', 'S')topping for pedestrians at unmarked crossings (that is those without traffic lights, only "zebra" lines) is mandated by law here. Not stopping is criminal. I believe that is the case in Canada also.
By the way, I believe this little shortage is a good thing. A small crisis might wake people and interest them in fuel issues.
But that is easy to say in Sweden, where there are no fuel shortages.
Not that I have a car anyways.

[NEOPO]

Usually I like how this guy lays it out but this time I was wondering who had put this article together while he was out with the flu or something
msnbc article - Import surge expected
my problems with this article:
1. quote "The storm knocked out some 75 million gallons per day of refining capacity – or about 11 percent of the U.S. total, according to Jacques Rousseau, an analyst at Friedman Billings and Ramsey in Houston. "
So this guy is talking about 75 million gallons of ?? gasoline?? - no he must mean OIL thus since gasoline to oil refinement is a ratio of .47 to 1.0 then the U.S. has lost approx. 35 million gallons of gasoline refinement capability.
This means that the US has/had a 35,000,000 gallon x 9 = 315,000,000 gallon per day gasoline refinement capability??
We consume 10,000,000 per day?? or we did that is - i thought - help I cannot see a shortage using this guys figures.

2. quote "But spot outages and price spikes are expected to be short-lived; the sharp drop in U.S. oil and gasoline production has produced a surge in imports. Already, some 20 tankers carrying a combined 10 million barrels of petroleum products were steaming toward U.S. ports. "
10 million? should I scoff now or later?
10 million? with this windfall the USA can splurge and take half a day off!!!

3. quote " On Friday, the International Energy Agency -- which oversees strategic petroleum reserves held in the U.S., Europe and Japan -- announced that it would release some 60 million barrels of crude oil and refined products to U.S. markets over the next month. About half the crude will come from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Analysts said those supplies should begin arriving on U.S. shores in a matter of weeks."
60 million ? thats 3 days ladies and gentlemen as we consume 20-21+ million barrels of oil per day.
If they are talking about gas - which I wish they were - thats 6 freakin days!!!

4. quote "“This armada of imports from Europe is going to start hitting, and we’re going to see supplies rapidly improve in the face of a decline in usual seasonal demand,” said A.G. Edwards analyst Bill O’Grady."
Armada!!!! must be a trekkie!!!
paleeeeze - these guys are on the payroll - agents.

5. quote " To speed the shipment of European and Japanese gasoline reserves to U.S. markets, the Environmental Protection Agency waived regulations governing the use of so-called reformulated gasoline blends in many part of the country. The law requires that gasoline sold in dozens of markets around the country contain specific additives to make fuel burn cleaner and reduce air pollution. "
Yeah - what environment?? environment smironment!!!

6. quote "Already, heating oil dealers are looking for alternative suppliers. Marty Baruso, a New York city supplier of biodiesel fuel made from soybean oil, says his orders have jumped more than five-fold and he can’t keep up with demand.
“The next 25 truckloads are sold already,” he said."
Yeah at almost $1 a subsidized gallon Marty's business is booming!!!!
Does this article seem like nonsense to only me or can I get an AMEN?

[Jaymax]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('NEOPO', 'm')y problems with this article:
1. quote "The storm knocked out some 75 million gallons per day of refining capacity"
So this guy is talking about 75 million gallons of ?? gasoline?? - no he must mean OIL.

[tpm]

How many vendors of the off road Red wil take the time to tally the relevant taxes and provide written proof of payment?

My one rat study says none.

[BabyPeanut]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')url=http://www.raisethehammer.org/blog.asp?id=107]Just Out of Time (link)[/url] 16 Aug 2005 By: Ryan McGreal
High oil prices are just starting to catch up to the big box economy.
The Times UK reports that Wal-Mart's profit growth slowed for the second quarter of this year, due in large part to an extra $130 million (US) in energy costs ($30 million for fuel and $100 million for utilities on its properties). This is only a taste of things to come, as escalating oil costs erode the business model on which Wal-Mart and its many pretenders depend.

The secret to Wal-Mart's success is not just its Third World sweatshops or even its ubiquitous grinning people greeters, but its incredibly sophisticated just-in-time logistics system. Complex algorithms track continuous, real-time sales feedback from every store and plot stock depletion rates so they can arrange new deliveries just as existing supplies are about to run out.
This model applies at every stop from the factory to the store shelf, and cuts out intermediates (the dreaded "middleman") wherever possible, so that Wal-Mart buys directly from suppliers. Due to its size, Wal-Mart has the market clout to enforce standards on its suppliers so it can better manage supplies.

As a result, Wal-Mart avoids both inventory costs (for warehousing extra goods) and lost sales due to absent stocks.
Just-in-time was first developed by Toyota Motor Corporation in the 1950s in response to Japan's chronic undersupply of real estate. Toyota engineers overcame the lack of lot space by standardizing parts and tools and arranging for components to arrive on manufacturing lines 'just in time' to be assembled.

Wal-Mart has applied the just-in-time model to its commercial inventory system so that products reach store shelves 'just in time' to be purchased with no real estate wasted on stocking goods. However, it requires a vast fleet of transport trucks to make micro-deliveries of required merchandise to thousands of individual stores on an ongoing basis.
Essentially, Wal-Mart has replaced static warehouses with dynamic warehouses on wheels. Eventually, the cost of keeping those warehouses rolling will swallow the savings from not stocking goods in stores.

Most companies have tried with varying degrees of success to emulate this model. Just-in-time supply chain management has become the norm across nearly every market for physical goods. Wal-Mart is the world's biggest corporation not because it follows just-in-time, but because the company does it better than the competition.
Of course, the supplies move along their 17,000 kilometre supply chains in ships and trucks that run on cheap fuel. Rising fuel prices are sure to erode the competitive advantage of just-in-time logistics. Fuel shortages and chokepoints will disrupt delivery, and high prices will punish a system of frequent deliveries to a multitude of destinations.

Without cheap energy, the "freedom" of transport trucks criss-crossing the continent on a multifarious spiderweb of highways wll grind to a halt.

[wildwest1941]

Back in the late 50's I was stationed in europe and they had gas rationing for US military personnel. The system seemed to work since not everyone used their coupons and those that needed more were able to buy them from those that didn't use their allotment. Something akin to this system might be useful to control the amount of gas used during times of shortage or disasters. It also limits unnecessary travel to a minimum causing more to use public transportation, which could use a rebirth. Just a thought.

[thorn]

I guess they do not want cause a PANIC. "This is temporary", Like PO will be temporary!
Officials avoid suggestions of gas shortages
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'N')o one wants to say "shortage." Not the AAA-Alabama, not the gasoline retailers nor the trade association representing Alabama's oil storage and transport industry.
The head of one major gasoline retailer even cautioned a reporter earlier this week that suggesting a gasoline shortage looms would be a serious disservice to the public. Yet, in nearly the same breath, Spectrum Stores Inc. chairman and CEO Albert C. Woodroof III acknowledged that at least some of the company's convenience store/gasoline stations in Alabama most likely would be "running out" of fuel within the next two to three weeks.

On a typical day, he says, Spectrum receives about 80 gasoline deliveries. "Today," he said in a telephone interview Wednesday afternoon, "we got 30."
Only a few hours earlier, he had received a report of fistfights breaking out among gasoline customers at a Spectrum store in Mobile where gasoline supplies were running low.
"You know," Woodroof said, "this is uncharted territory. I honestly have no idea how this is going to work out."