Twelve days ago, when Ike hit Texas, we got hit with no gas. Not many people can go that long without gas, including us. We thought everything would recover quickly; after all, there was no damage to the drilling rigs or the refineries. But Atlanta, unlike the rest of the country, is still without. A station here or there gets a dribble of gas delivered once in a while, but it's gone in a flash. Costco hasn't had any at all since the day of Ike. When there is gas at a station, it's 75 cents to 95 cents higher per gallon than pre-Ike.I stopped driving altogether for the first week because I didn't want to participate in the immoral price gouging. Instead I walked everywhere. I drive a little now because walking 3.1 miles to the grocery store to buy a weeks' worth of groceries, then lugging it all home, presumably on my back, the same 3.1 miles, is extremely difficult.
I seems that the reason for the shortage is complicated, involving the EPA's air quality standards for Atlanta, the Colonial Pipeline which brings gasoline from the Gulf to Atlanta, greedy customers, and perhaps crooked business practices. They keep telling us that we should be back to normal in two weeks. But it's been almost two weeks, and they still say two weeks.At any rate, we're tired of 1 1/2 hour lines, driving from station to station looking for gas, and high prices. An idea: Could the rest of the country reduce their driving a bit to free up more gas for us? Just a thought.
3 comments:
I blame panic.People overreact and go out and fill up their car even when they do not really need to.Also, if you announce that their is a shortage of gas then their will be one,if not already,when everyone goes out and fills up their cars and the gas cans ,that they just bought at Home Depot.(they had a huge shelf full of gas cans 2 weeks ago and now they are out.)
Yeah, it’s a little 1974-ish! I like the idea of being European and walking everywhere. Too bad it is so hard to do in the good ole US of A. I, too, don't go anywhere in the car unless I just MUST...I find that I don't need to "MUST" very often!! At least I am close enough to walk to the store-every day if need be...3+ miles is a real hike-even for those of us who LIKE to walk! I feel your pain, sister!! I have a wise friend who’s mantra is “This, too shall pass”. Maybe if we ‘greedy’ Americans would try to conserve a little more we would all have plenty of…whatever we need…to go around with some left over to share!
I told you that we aren't having any trouble with gas - well, its a little worse here than I thought but certainly no shortage. Almost all stations are out of at least one grade, but have other grades. A few are completely out. The station near us keeps running completely out but gets new gas in pretty quickly. It must be that Atlanta is bigger and everyone there is panicking so it's turning into a vicious cycle.
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