Phoenix is in a BIG TIME Crisis........."NO GAS!" Since this article can out around 0100, the situation has grown even WORSE Watching the news this morning, there are but a handful of stations with gas and the PRICES at SOME of these stations are "2.79" a gallon for the CHEAP STUFF......"3.09" for premium
Dennis
Lack of gas stuns Valley, more shortages expected
Michael Chow/The Arizona Republic
Leonardo Degohermano, 26, of Phoenix, waits Sunday for gas at the ARCO station at 43rd and Northern avenues.
Napolitano cuts trip short to cope with emergency
Emily Bittner
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 18, 2003 12:00 AM
After days of skyrocketing gas prices, local drivers encountered more bad news at the pump Sunday:
No gas at all.
Hundreds of Valley gas stations ran out of fuel, leading to long lines and short fuses as anxious motorists searched for open stations with working pumps.
Industry officials say gas is being shipped to the Valley around the clock but shortages will continue until a pipeline that ruptured July 30 is reopened.
The weekend outages were much worse than expected, leading Gov. Janet Napolitano to cut short her trip to the National Governors Association Conference in Indianapolis and return to the Valley today to address the issue.
Industry officials could not say with certainty why the problem was so severe Sunday, which stations will have gas today or when the supply will be steady.
Conserving gas
• If you own more than one car, especially if one of your vehicles is a less fuel-efficient truck or SUV, use the more energy-conserving vehicle as often as possible.
• Consolidate trips and errands.
• Find one location where you can take care of all banking, grocery shopping and other chores.
• Slow down. The faster a vehicle travels, the more gas it burns.
• Avoid quick starts and sudden stops, which waste fuel.
• Routinely maintain your vehicle.
• Lighten the load. A heavier vehicle uses more gasoline.
• Check your vehicle owner's manual. If your vehicle does not require premium or mid-grade fuel, then buy regular unleaded gasoline.
Source: AAA Arizona
Related link
• Special report: Valley gas shortage
"People need basics," Napolitano said in a telephone interview from Indianapolis on Sunday evening. "When you need to go to a gas station . . . there needs to be gas there."
Napolitano's team stitched together a plan last week with pipeline owner Kinder Morgan Energy Partners to bring more gas into the Valley. She said tankers are trucking fuel from the company's Tucson fuel depot and Kinder Morgan more than doubled its shipments Sunday through its Los Angeles-to-Phoenix pipeline.
But the gas isn't getting to local stations fast enough, which may signal a distribution problem, Napolitano said.
"The gasoline is in the Valley," Napolitano said. "It was my understanding that we had an adequate supply and that we would be able to get gasoline."
More than half of the 300 stations that ConocoPhillips supplies had no gas Sunday morning, said Julie Igo, a spokeswoman for the company, which owns Circle K and 76, and supplies Exxon stations in Arizona.
"As some get refilled, others go out," she said.
Igo said the company expects most stations will have gas tonight, but rolling outages will continue as long as the pipeline is inoperable.
In the meantime, drivers should conserve gas and fill up only when they need rather than just topping the tank, said David Cowley, spokesman for AAA Arizona.
Many needed it Sunday. Drivers throughout the Valley circled neighborhoods until they found open pumps, often waiting in lines so long that they blocked traffic.
Mike Severinchek, 46, of Chandler thought he had a sure deal Sunday morning. He filled his wife's truck about 6:45 a.m. at the Mobil station at Frye Road and Arizona Avenue in Chandler. He returned a few hours later to fill his Buick Le Sabre, but the station closed the pumps.
"It's driving me crazy," said Severinchek, who commutes daily to Tempe, where he drives a school bus. "I think it's a crock. I won't be able to get back and forth to work."
A police dispatcher in Peoria said station managers and customers flooded the department's phone lines. Managers reported that cars were lined up 60 deep at the two stations known to be open in the city. Some arguments among customers broke out, but no one was injured, the dispatcher said.
"The worst thing that we can do is this panic buying," Cowley said. "When you need gas, buy it, when you don't, don't. There's plenty of fuel, we're just having trouble getting it into town."
On Aug. 7, the price for regular unleaded gas in Phoenix was $1.54 a gallon, according to AAA. At 1 a.m. Sunday, it was $1.77. And as the day wore on, prices climbed above $2.
The West Valley and north Phoenix were the hardest hit, Cowley said. The Arizona Republic informally surveyed 24 stations from Deer Valley to downtown Phoenix. Seven had unleaded gasoline for sale at prices ranging from $1.82 to $2.10 per gallon.
Wherever pumps opened, lines formed immediately with 20 or more vehicles waiting, sometimes blocking traffic on major streets.
Many motorists said they passed eight to 10 closed stations and nearly ran out of fuel during the quest. Most coped with a mixture of humor, cynicism and resignation.
Leah Turner, 27, of Chandler, works in downtown Phoenix for the Department of Agriculture and couldn't fill her Chevy Cavalier's empty gas tank.
"I guess I'll have to ride the bus," Turner said.
Daren Deshazer, 33, of Phoenix, said he passed 10 closed stations before finding an Exxon with unleaded regular available at just $1.82. He said his gauge was on empty, and he kept turning off the ignition at red lights to save fuel.
"It seems maybe the gas companies are taking advantage of the small guys," Deshazer added.
Ken Parrish, owner of the Exxon station at 23rd Avenue and Deer Valley Road, opened his pumps for a few hours to let customers buy $10 worth of gas. Within five minutes, vehicles clogged local streets to get in.
Parrish said he usually sells 1,000 gallons a day but had gone through that much by 8 a.m. Sunday. Suppliers are delivering gas sporadically, providing half the normal amount, he said.
"I have it ordered," he said. "I couldn't tell you when I'm getting it . . . It's killing me because I can't make any money. And I'm not going to raise prices to gouge people. So, when I'm out, I'm out."
Prices are also rising in Flagstaff and Tucson, although they have not run out.
Cashier Ethan Watrus at the Little America truck stop in Flagstaff increased the price 10 cents a gallon last week cents because its suppliers raised their prices. But Watrus said the popular truck stop has not been affected by the shortage plaguing the Valley.
Many customers complained that gas stations were artificially raising prices, and that drew a quick rebuke from Napolitano.
"It better not be (price gouging)," Napolitano said. "Now is not the time for the blame game."
She said that she would examine the problem in depth after the initial crisis blows over.
Mitch Belles, who works at a Texaco at Lincoln Drive and Scottsdale Road in Paradise Valley, said the station received a fresh supply of gas Saturday night but he expected to run out by today. Sunday's sales, he said, were running 150 percent of normal.
"This is crazy," said Brian Pristelski, who pulled into an ARCO at Scottsdale Road and Shea Boulevard. It was his fourth stop without finding gas. "It hasn't been this bad since the '70s."
The shortage recalled the 1970s gas crisis for many. In 1976, gas cost about 61 cents a gallon, which would be $1.95 in today's money, Cowley said.
The energy crisis of the 1970s began in October 1973 with the Arab oil embargo. The embargo set off rising fuel prices and shortages that resulted in long lines at the pumps, a new experience at the time for Americans.
The El Paso-to-Phoenix pipeline normally feeds the Valley with 2.2 million gallons a day, one-third of its daily gas supplies. But the Tucson-to-Phoenix leg ruptured July 30 and Kinder Morgan officials shut it down Aug. 8 after other problems were found with the 48-year-old pipeline. Authorities say it may be two more weeks before it reopens.
"We're trying to do everything we can to ensure that the pipeline is restored back to service when we can be assured that it is safe to do so," said Heather Murphy, spokeswoman for the Arizona Corporation Commission, which is investigating the leak that shut down the pipeline.
Kinder Morgan was scheduled to make several major deliveries through the pipeline all day Sunday, Napolitano said, and during the next month will add 1 million barrels of gas for the Valley to the California pipeline.
Napolitano said the company is also shipping between 10,000 and 13,000 barrels daily to the Valley from its Tucson terminal, which industry officials call the tank farm. The facility has three loading slots and drivers are facing up to 10-hour waits.
"The trucks are just all backed up out there," said Chuck Barton, Phoenix division manager for Tulsa-based independent Quiktrip, which has nearly 30 stations in the Valley.
Officials are testing the ruptured Tucson pipeline to make sure it can withstand pressure and doesn't leak hazardous materials. Those tests could take up to two weeks because they have to be conducted in stages, between each pumping station, for several hours at a time, Murphy said.
"I think it's safe to say that the last thing anybody wants is a pipeline that isn't safe." Murphy said.
"People may be upset that they were inconvenienced, or that there was a supply problem or the prices went up. Anybody that lives or works in the vicinity of that pipeline, they're going to want to be sure that they're safe."
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