AJC.com > Talk of the town > Archives > 2008 > October > 04 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USThe Great Atlanta Gas Hunt, weekend edition
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I’ll be out and about on other assignments today, but a few quick updates on the Southeast gas shortage.
8:29 p.m. In case you’d check out, here’s a gas Q&A. You know, if you were under a rock, on another planet, maybe just outside the Southeast, living without a car…
8:26 p.m. September was Georgia’s official “Preparedness Month” except at the gas pump. From a story by the AJC’s Alan Judd: “On Aug. 28, Gov. Sonny Perdue officially designated September as ‘Preparedness Month.’ The state, Perdue said, had developed an “ambitious and proactive” campaign with a name that bespoke vigilance: Ready Georgia. Two weeks later, however, Georgians learned just how unprepared the state was for a rapidly emerging crisis in auto-centric metro Atlanta: a gasoline shortage.”
10:33 a.m. You say shortage, he says emergency. Georgia leaders have debated all week how the gas shortage could have been handled differently, better, by others etc. This story from the local Fox station details more of their arguments.
- Speaking of leaders: Monday is the last day to register to vote in the Nov. 4 election!
10:29 a.m. Take your pick: high prices or hunting for gas. This story from the Augusta Chronicle says laws prohibiting gas retailers from raising prices make the shortage worse. “You do exacerbate the shortage. You don’t solve things, you make it worse,”David Mustard, an associate professor of economics at the University of Georgia told the Chronicle.
10:27 a.m. Is the gas shortage spreading? Here’s a blog post from New York’s Lower Hudson Valley, discussing stations that are out of gas. Yikes!
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 jc_atl
October 4, 2008 10:56 PM | Link to this
A conservative friend of mine said that Sonny was the worst governor we’ve had in decades. I tend to agree. Just what is it that’s kept him so busy that he can’t deal with the needs of Georgia’s citizens?
By Jerry
October 5, 2008 8:52 AM | Link to this
RE: Georgia’s gas shortage exposed fragile system
Fragile indeed. Maybe when the oil companies start drilling off of our Atlantic coast Georgia will allow a Refinery or so to be built that will diversify our supply.? Depending upon refineries built so close to the coast is just plumb dumb. Economically expedient? Probably, but still from an infrastructure point of view, questionable to put all our eggs in one basket.
By Jerry
October 5, 2008 9:07 AM | Link to this
The term “gas gouging” needs to be better defined.
What we need is a law that prohibits local prices from exceeding national average prices, period. That way local gouging, like we saw at almost every independently owned gas station, would not be allowed to legally occur. And I say legally because without predefined limits it is subjective as to wheather or not it occured.
By Jennifer
October 5, 2008 10:53 AM | Link to this
I wouldn’t agree that the government is as much to blame as the media. The media fed the panic with constant coverage causing people to race to the gas stations and top off whenever possible thus driving up demand and prices. So very often the media is left blameless…