Local stations reflect on gas shortages

By NATE HUBBARD/Staff

Gas shortages that have frustrated residents of the Southeast in the last few weeks are slowly becoming mere bad memories.
The fuel distribution problems – caused by disruptions to supply lines after Hurricanes Gustav and Ike hit the Gulf Coast in September – were much less severe in Bland County than in many Southern urban centers such as Charlotte, N.C., and Atlanta, but a few local stations did find themselves with insufficient supplies.
Woody’s Snack Bar and Grocery owner Janet Damewood said her station experienced sporadic fuel deliveries until receiving a fresh shipment on Friday.
In all, she said the Rocky Gap store was without gas for a total of five days.
“We’re OK now,” Damewood said Monday morning, indicating that she didn’t foresee any more trouble in obtaining gas. “We got it back Friday so we’re in good shape.”
The store owner said there wasn’t much she could do when her supplier told her there was no fuel available.
“They couldn’t get it, so I couldn’t get it,” she said.
Damewood said she did decline one opportunity to replenish her supplies, explaining that the gas price had skyrocketed to a dollar more a gallon than she recently had been paying.
As an independent station, Woody’s isn’t at the front of the line for supplies in extraordinary circumstances like the ones caused by the recent hurricanes, Damewood added.
“The independent people have a harder time getting everything,” she said.
In Ceres, though, Harner’s General Store owner Ellen Harner said her independent station was able to make it through the last few weeks unscathed.
Harner said the small outlet was fortunate enough to receive a shipment before the disruptions occurred. With relatively few gas sales at her store, she said her supply was able to last through the difficult stretch.
“I guess I just got lucky when I bought it,” Harner said.
Additional shortages at other Bland County and Wythe County stations that are part of national conglomerates also were reported during the last few weeks.
Area managers at those stations, however, directed all questions to corporate offices and messages left at the headquarters weren’t returned.
The damage to refineries in the Gulf Coast especially affected fuel deliveries in the Southeast because the region heavily relies on a pipeline that begins in Houston and crosses the Southeast for its gas supplies.
The pipeline began operating at pre-hurricane levels in late September, but it takes days for the gas to move north from the Gulf.
Experts expect the shortages throughout the region to be mostly mitigated by mid-October.
Thirteen of the 15 Gulf Coast refineries that shut down are back up, said Healy Baumgardner, a spokeswoman for the Department of Energy.
As refineries come back online, they will produce more oil, increasing the supply.
Amy Dominello of Media General News Services contributed to this report.
Nate Hubbard can be reached at 1-800-655-1406 or .