I live in South Carolina, not a city just a moderate size town and we have had many
of our stations out of gas recently.
This whole thing reminds me of the gas embargo during Carters administration.
When articles about this started appearing on the web I checked them out to see
what people were saying. The people in the south who were experiencing the problem
were posting to others not to panic and to cut back on consumption. People were
cautioning others not to fill up gas cans and make matters worse for all.
People who were posting from parts of the country not having this problem in a large
majority said it was a dumb Redneck problem and we should quit being upset about it.
For me it is a snapshot of things to come.
The night before the hurricane hit Texas people started filling up there tanks and gas cans.
Prices here in town went to almost $5.00 per gallon. My daughter was coming home from
school that night and called me . In her words on her 25 mile trip home she watched the
price rise and stations crowded with cars. For her it was unreal.
The next morning I got a call from her on her way to work the prices had gone
from $3.75 to $4.99 per gallon . Because we live in a costal state that can be
hit by a hurricane we have a price gouging law. It applies to Hotels and gas stations
and was written after Hugo hit our state. People who were evacuating from the
coast had been hit with high gas prices or no gas at all and that created a problem
for them trying to flee the storm. Once they got to shelters some were full or
the people decided on there own to stay in a hotel. Once again they were taken
advantage of. You see it is not just the gas companies who take advantage
of people other industries do also.
When my daughter called me in the morning I contacted our Governor by e-mail
told him what was happening and requested the gouging law be enacted.
His response was swift. Any gas station was to be reported, investigators will
look at the station's last gas delivery cost and if the price they were charging does
not reflect a reasonable price they will be fined.
Now let me tell you first hand who was gouging. It was the mom and pop stations.
BP held the price at $3.99 per gallon and limited gas to 10 gallons,
Exxon held the price at $4.35 per gallon and limited gas to $40.00 per fill up.
What did many people do. They ran to there garage and grabbed as many gas cans
as they could and went from gas station to gas station filling them and every car they
owned up.
The next day I got a call from the Governors office what a shock. The aid who called
asked me for any thoughts I had on what was happening.
Usually a storm hitting in another state has little effect on our prices but this one was big
and where it hit was going to cause gas problems because of the refineries in the area.
My thoughts on how to handle it next time were as follows.
All of the Governors meet and agree that should something that looks like it has the potential
of causing a disruption occur the states nationwide should have price gauging laws. They
should also mandate that gas stations limit gas to 10 gallons except in the area where the
people would need to fill gas cans to keep generators running.
All emergency, law enforcement, trucking industry, and relief personal would not be
under the 10 gallon limit.
Sounds harsh does it not? Well let's take just one industry shall we.
The power is out in Texas. Some of the parts that are need to restore power are made
by the company my husband works for. We need to get the power on in Texas for the
people and the refineries.
Remember I am in South Carolina, the parts need to move from here to Texas. Power
crews from other states will be going to Texas to restore the power. Should the Power
crews or the trucks with the needed parts be unable to get gas on there way to Texas
they will be dead on the side of the road. Electric power will not be restored very fast.
Now let's explore another problem that no one talks about because most do not realize
it exist. Back when Hugo hit and Andrew years ago my husband's plant had a stock
of parts on the shelf. Anything they did not have they would pull from a customers existing
order. Parts were supplied rather rapidly.
Today that is not the case. Because of the tax laws that were enacted under Clinton companies
are charged taxes for the parts as they sit on the shelf not when they are sold.
So my husbands company does a one part in one part out the same is done with the
materials that make the part. So at work my husband pulled from every existing order
and used materials meant to make another customers order, to send to Texas.
Now shorting a customers order is always done in an emergency that is not a
problem. The problem comes in if there are not enough materials to make enough
parts for Texas after all have been used. You guessed it the lights will not come up
any faster if you need more material to make the parts needed and you have to wait
for the material to be shipped and the time to make the part.
Tax laws are such a catch 22 are they not?
Well now we have a bailout bill and no Energy Bill although Bush has requested one
so many times. And some out there still harbor the illusion that we can convert the whole
country to electric cars and run our electric plants on wind with in 10 years. Everyone
could use an education on our power grid system how they work and the laws that govern
them that would be a real eye opener. But I will not go there on this posting.
And so many want to hate the oil companies and demanding that companies pay higher
taxes. It is easy to hate the other guy right?
Well get use to the gas shortages. Because hate will move you no further down the road
then an empty gas tank.
You want Obama, enjoy your empty gas tank. I lived through this under Carter I guess
I can do it again.