AJC.com > Talk of the town > Archives > 2008 > October > 02 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USThursday: The Great Atlanta Gas Hunt rolls on
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
And, we’re back!
Yesterday spurred all kinds of news about why finding gas is easier, but not so easy that you can call it pull-in-pump-and-go normal.
Where can this go today? As always, resources below, news coming up.
4:22 p.m. Want to ride your bicycle? Jennifer Perry interviewed Rebecca Serna of the Atlanta Bicycle Campaign and Jeff Marks, a bike commuter, with a little Queen playing in the background.
Also: I mentioned yesterday they’ve got a Confident City Cycling classes; they just added another in Decatur on Oct. 18.
If you’re thinking of getting on the road on two wheels, don’t hop on your 10-year-old bike straight out of garage. Take it to a bike shop for a tune up or go by SoPo Bicycle Co-op in East Atlanta to learn how to do it yourself.
12:10 a.m. A picture of supply, demand and gas shortages. People say over and over that the gas shortage is a supply and demand issue, but this little video offers up an image of what that means and how that works in our economy. Might help the visual thinkers in the crowd. It looks and sounds a little like living through my high school econ class again, except gas cost about $1.15 per gallon then.
11:53 a.m. Even/odd memories. North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley told the Charlotte Observer he remembered the even-odd filling days in the 1970s, when he lived in “a trailer park owned by people who had a nearby filling station.” “I’d study and peek out,” he said. “When it looked like the line was the shortest, I’d go get some.” The even-odd filling plan has come up several times as a way to help Atlanta, although the need for it might be behind us now. What would you think of that plan?
10:40 a.m. Quality time with the family while waiting in line for gas? Not so much. If it’s frustrating for parents, imagine being a sleepyhungrythirstyboredstickylalalalaarewethereyet! kid in the back seat. The MOMania blog checked in on how a gas shortage affects families a few days ago. How do you handle the demands of a family with long lines or worry about not finding gas?
9:45 a.m. “This gas thing is driving us crazy.” That line comes from Joseph Schwartz of Kennesaw, a psychologist who sat in line out on the highway to wait 20 minutes to fill up his fuel-efficient Prius.“You believe what you see in the news and you don’t want to run out, so you get anxious,” he explained. “Maybe I shouldn’t say anxious. You get stressed out and concerned.”
9:16 a.m. If your mail is running late, blame the gas pumps. Indeed, it seems most mail carriers fill up at commercial stations. WXIA says there’s a fuel reserve for U.S. Postal Service big rigts in Gwinnett and Fulton counties, but that doesn’t help out the regular characters.
9:09 a.m. Two pipelines up, so what about a third? This story by AJC reporter Bill Torpy says state House members killed a bill that would have eased the permitting process to build a new $2 billion, 460-mile fuel line from Louisiana to Cobb County. The new line wouldn’t have solved this shortage, but Colonial Pipeline Co. officials are taking the opportunity to say it would help in the future, when two other lines are overburdened. Opposition says the bill would “erode property rights and evade environmental scrutiny.”
9:03 a.m. Yay! It’s better. Well, not really. No. Not yet. Oh, the cycle of emotions we’re going through! This is a more expansive version of a story from yesterday about why it might feel a little easier at the pump, but it truly won’t be back to our usual volume and prices for a week or two.
Resources
Gas shortage Q&A for all the basics.
Atlanta’s gas Twitter for real-time updates from drivers.
Atlanta area gas prices provided by GasBuddy.com.
Fueling tips from the AJC Smart Spending blog.
Shortage talk, public transportation information and transit planners from the AJC’s Your Money.
Rookies Guide to Riding MARTA, a guide from AJC writers and readers.
105 tips to use less gas from EcoModder.
Scenes from a shortage, a photo gallery of gas hunters.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment | Categories: gasprices
Comments
By BOBCEE
October 2, 2008 11:27 AM | Link to this
How come gas in Florida is 40-50 cents less than in Georgia. Where does Florida get their gas? I would assume from the Texas and Louisiana. In New Jersey there are some station selling gas for 2.99 gallon.
Why are we still paying 3.95-4.29 for regular. Oil is down to $94 as of this morning. Have the powers to be that determine the gas price lost their calculators. Why is georgia paying the brunt?
By BOBCEE
October 2, 2008 11:34 AM | Link to this
Why is Georgia still paying 3.95-4.29 for regular gas? Florida is paying 40-50 cents less per gallon. Where do they get their gas from? I would assume Texas and Louisiana.
In New Jersey the average price is 2.99 per gallon. I know as my kids live there and I also looked it up on the Internet.
Are the powers to be that calculate the price of gas in Georgia all on vacation or have they lost their calculators.
Also oil is down again today Now it is 94 per barrel.
Come one guys we have had enough.
By Scott
October 2, 2008 2:13 PM | Link to this
Georgia should offer incentives for someone to build a refinery here. There hasn’t been a refinery build in the US for 32 years, and the ones we have are operating pretty much at capacity in the best of times. We get all our gas from refineries in the gulf coast. We should encourage the building of a refinery on the Georgia Atlantic coast. It can be used to refine the oil we’ll be drilling for off our coast now that the federal ban is expiring. Alaska gets a huge chunk of it’s state budget from oil—Georgians could use some tax relief too.
By Scott
October 2, 2008 2:19 PM | Link to this
Georgia should offer incentives for someone to build a refinery here. There hasn’t been a refinery build in the US for 32 years, and the ones we have are operating pretty much at capacity in the best of times. We get all our gas from refineries in the gulf coast. We should encourage the building of a refinery on the Georgia Atlantic coast. It can be used to refine the oil we’ll be drilling for off our coast now that the federal ban is expiring. Alaska gets a huge chunk of it’s state budget from oil—Georgians could use some tax relief too.