Perdue says gas panic is ‘self-induced’

Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue said Wednesday that there were shortages of gasoline in parts of metro Atlanta, and he called some of the panic “self-induced.”

“There is ample fuel in the city,” he said. “It’s not everywhere it needs to be, but we do not have a crisis in the sense that we don’t have fuel coming in.”

The Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to lift the anti-pollution additives required for gasoline sold in metro Atlanta should help because those special blends led to many of the distribution problems, Perdue said.

House Minority Leader DuBose Porter (D-Dublin) saw the situation differently.

So, too, did some motorists.

“It’s amazing,” said Ted Poolos, who stopped to fuel up at a Shell station on Jimmy Carter Boulevard in Gwinnett County. Even when the pumps weren’t dry, the long lines make it feel as if they are, Poolos said.

Around metro Atlanta, prices for regular gas early Thursday ranged from $3.67 a gallon at a Chevron in Cumming to $4.59 at a BP station at Barrett Parkway and I-75 in Cobb County, according to GasBuddy.com, which compiles driver reports online.

The average price in Atlanta — $4.08 a gallon — is still about 42 cents above the national average, according to GasBuddy.

That’s a steep increase from one month ago, when gasoline here averaged $3.54 a gallon.

As for Perdue, Porter said it took the governor too long to react to the gas shortages and that Perdue waited until prices skyrocketed before enforcing the state’s gouging law.

Bert Brantley, spokesman for Perdue, disputed the notion that the governor has been behind the curve on the gas problems.

Administration officials have been on the phone with suppliers, convenience store industry officials and others every day for the past few weeks trying to stay on top of the issue, Brantley said.

“At every point, when a decision needed to be made, we made it,” he said. “Every day the question is asked, ‘What can we do?’ “

Returning to normal could take at least a week or more. As the week wears on, there have been continued improvements in the Gulf of Mexico’s infrastructure to produce and refine the metro area’s supply.

And some retailers have sent tanker trucks to make pickups.

Supplies will not surge overnight, but each day should add to the area’s stock — so long as there is no corresponding spike of demand from drivers.

“Atlanta is getting gas, but the sheer volume of stores that are out of product means that supplies are getting tighter and tighter,” said Tex Pitfield, president of Saraguay Petroleum Corp., a gasoline distributor. “I think things are getting worse.”

As it turns out, state and federal regulators picked a good time to allow suppliers to bring in dirtier-burning fuel in an attempt to boost supplies. That’s because smog needs hot temperatures to brew the toxic mixture of man-made pollution, and Atlanta is unlikely to see another 90-degree day this year.

William Cook, who oversees fuel regulations for the state, said the impact on the region’s air quality from higher-sulfur gasoline “will be fairly trivial.”

It’s also uncertain just how “dirty” the gas will be between now and Oct. 12, the waiver window granted by regulators.

Most gas sold across the country already must meet federal low-sulfur regulations. So the Georgia gas — required in a 45-county area in and around metro Atlanta — is not that different.

But, as metro Atlanta drivers are learning, it’s different enough to leave suppliers with little flexibility when supplies tighten.

— Staff writers Michael E. Kanell and Peralte C. Paul contributed to this article.