Well it hasn't helped us a whit.
This area is home to a major switching station in Colonial's pipeline,,,we have a large tank farm,,, and our gas is more expensive at Costco than it is in Portland Maine at the pump. Our gas is usually less expensive.
No more. It went up but its not coming back down accordingly.
NC was told during the Katrina fiasco that all of our gas comes from said pipeline which was down for a a day. Within days it was running at 95% cap. Supply has never been a problem. But price has been.
I suggested the desert because of its largely unchangeable weather. I mean, you can still see pioneer wagon wheel tracks in places. We pipe oil all over the place anyway so it should be no great stretch.
ep 2, 2005 8:37 AM
Gas prices stun, anger N.C. drivers
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Many consumers, such as Four Oaks resident Doug Bowman, said the high prices were a scam and Gov. Mike Easley should have declared a state of emergency.
"It's no different than the looting you see in Louisiana," he said. "I feel like I'm getting ripped off, by the governor's permission."
Station owners say the high prices are caused by higher wholesale costs, which reached $3 a gallon after oil refineries and pipelines were shut down when Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast. North Carolina law prohibits retailers from charging less for gas than they paid wholesale. They also must pay 46 cents in federal and state taxes per gallon -- a cost they pass on to consumers.
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Meanwhile, limited shortages are showing up throughout the state. Gas from the partially restored pipeline won't reach the Carolinas until after Labor Day.
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"I just got a shipment, and I called my supplier this morning for another delivery and they told me not before Monday," said Mahmoud Atieh, who owns three Raleigh gas stations, including the Wolf's Den on Hodges Street.
Even large retailers aren't ruling out the possibility that their stations will run out. The Pantry, a chain of more than 1,300 convenience stores based in Sanford, is prioritizing, shuttling gas to higher-volume, bigger stores.
Katrina shut down about 90 percent of the Southeast's gas supply. Wholesale prices -- and therefore retail prices -- won't go down until there's more gas.
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Colonial Pipeline Co., the world's largest operator of petroleum-product pipelines, on Wednesday restarted two lines from Houston to New York harbor that had been shut down Monday. Service is at 25 percent to 35 percent of normal capacity, and Colonial is installing generators that may increase it to as much as 60 percent by the weekend, company spokesman Steve Baker said.
Gas in the pipeline moves slowly -- 7 mph -- so it will take time. And many of the refineries that feed the pipeline are still down.
Other relief may come in the form of that "winter blend" gas and the release of some of the federal reserve oil stock.
Energy Department spokesman Drew Malcolm said reports of price gouging were being turned over to the FTC.
You can report cases of gouging to the Energy Information Administration here
http://gaswatch.energy.gov/
The states with the most complaints were North Carolina, Georgia, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Illinois, Tennessee, New Jersey, Michigan and South Carolina.