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Fuel frenzy
Ike sparks fear of gas shortage
Robert C. Reed
Donna Rauschenberg fuels up at Raceway on Lenoir-Rhyne Boulevard on Friday.
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Published: September 13, 2008
HICKORY - Catawba County motorists faced spiking gas prices, long lines and empty pumps Friday as Hurricane Ike bore down on coastal Texas, shutting down pipelines that supply the Carolinas with fuel.
"It's ridiculous," said Lena Taillon, standing near the end of a 20-person line inside the Raceway service station on Lenoir-Rhyne Boulevard.
The 18-year-old Hickory woman spoke for many as she waited to pay for gas, watching as vehicles continued to crowd around the pumps.
Area drivers joined people from throughout the South who rushed to fill their gas tanks Friday.
One regional chain urged customers to limit themselves to 10 gallons, and officials in North Carolina and other states tried to head off a run on gas by threatening to prosecute stations that gouge consumers.
AAA Carolinas is urging motorists to show restraint until the results of Hurricane Ike's impact on the Texas refineries is assessed this weekend.
"The run on gas is creating a crisis before there is a crisis," said an AAA Carolinas spokesman. "We are making a possibly bad situation reality when motorists top off their tanks."
In the Hickory area, the cost for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline jumped from about $3.60 Thursday night to $4 Friday morning. By afternoon, the price had risen to $4.60 or more at many stations.
The Citgo at the corner of U.S. 70 and Fairgrove Church Road was charging $3.99 for unleaded regular Friday afternoon, but limited customers to $10 worth of gas at a time. Further down Fairgrove Church Road, the BP station was charging $4.59.
The Gas House in Mountain View in Southern Catawba County ran out of all grades of gasoline shortly after noon Friday.
"The distributor promised us a half load sometime today," an attendant said around 4 p.m., "but we haven't seen it yet."
Meanwhile, the Wilco station across the highway was clogged. The turn lane on N.C. 127 South into Wilco contained a half-dozen vehicles waiting to get in line.
At the Gas House, motorists pulled in for a look, and then drove on, looking for gas.
The Gas House did have diesel fuel in the tanks.
Gov. Mike Easley declared a state of "abnormal market disruption" and signed an order allowing the attorney general to enforce North Carolina's anti-gouging law.
Attorney General Roy Cooper said the law applies to all levels of the fuel supply chain.
Consumers can report instances of suspected price gouging to the Attorney General's office by calling 1-877-5-NO-SCAM toll-free within North Carolina.
The Pantry convenience store chain, which has about 1,600 stations in 11 Southern states, asked customers to buy only 10 gallons of gas at a time. The chain's stores include Kangaroo and Petro Express.
The oil and gas industry was closely watching the storm because it was headed straight for the nation's biggest complex of refineries and petrochemical plants.
The upper Texas coast accounts for one-fifth of U.S. refining capacity, and many platforms were shut down.
Area motorists had various opinions on what will happen to gas prices during the next few days.
"I think the gas stations have just seen an opportunity to raise the prices," said Jim Higgins, a customer at the Citgo on U.S. 70.
"They'll come back down by the first of the week."
Marlene Bodkin disagreed.
"They won't come back down," the Citgo customer said. "They know this is hurricane season, and they know people are panicking. I'm not, I just needed some gas. I'm on empty."
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