Gas Shortages Plague Southeast; Other Regions See Prices Drop

Gas prices continued their schizophrenic behavior this past week, as the Southeastern U.S. was hit hard by severe gas shortages. While the national average remained a relatively modest $3.64 a gallon, according to AAA, southern states like the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee saw bone-dry gas stations and cars lined up for two hours at the ones that still had fuel.

Meanwhile, the price of gas in Michigan has fallen 46 cents in the past week, which marks one of the steepest, quickest drops in that state’s history. The state averaged a price of $3.71 per gallon, but gas-pricing sites found it going for as low as $3.39 in some counties.

So what gives?

Obviously, the double smack of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike shoulder much of the blame for recent price spikes, but the Southeastern U.S. carries an additional burden because that region has very minimal refining or gas storage capacity. They get almost all of their gas from pipelines that originate in Texas.

When Ike followed Gustav so quickly, Texas refineries basically sat idle for a month, and what little inventory the Southeast had managed to accrue dried up. For the past three weeks, the region has been feeling the pain of the limited supply.

Then, when media coverage of the shortage began to hit the airwaves, panicked drivers started topping off their tanks at every opportunity, leading to a spike in demand. The shortage has affected businesses, government (Asheville, N.C., shut down government offices for several days) and even college football.

Anyone who has lived in or visited the South knows that threatening the cancellation of the Georgia-Alabama SEC showdown is akin to saying Christmas is off. Alabama Gov. Sonny Perdue called the entire notion “ridiculous.”

The game did go on (Alabama gave the No.3 Bulldogs a bloody nose), but all this drama serves as a reminder of the continuing danger of our country’s petroleum-based lifestyle. The shortage in the South is expected to continue for two to four more weeks.

No Quick End to Gas Shortage in South (USA Today)