Area gas stations hike prices; some pumps run dry
CHET WHITE/
THE NEWS & ADVANCE
Vehicles line up at the 7-Eleven gas station off U.S. 460 at New London Drive on Friday afternoon. By early evening the station ran out of regular unleaded fuel, like several other stations in the Lynchburg area.
After Hurricane Ike prompted Texas oil refineries to halt operations Friday, the Lynchburg area saw a run on gas stations that led to quick price jumps and left some stations without fuel.
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine asked Virginians not to overreact, to refuel “according to their normal routine” and to conserve gasoline by not taking unnecessary trips.
Still, Lynchburg-area drivers lined up Friday to buy gas while the pumps were still running and before prices spiked.
“We went through 4,000 gallons in three hours,” said Crystal Queen, a cashier at a Shell station at Timberlake and Old Graves Mill roads.
“This is pandemonium.”
The Shell station’s tank hit empty around 5 p.m. While rows of cars were trying to turn in, the store’s employees set out cones to halt the traffic.
Katie Wilson filled up her 1995 Nissan Maxima at the Sheetz on Lakeside Drive around 5:15 p.m.
She had already put $20 in on her lunch break, but she and her co-workers got text messages from their employer saying that gas would cost $5 per gallon by the end of the day.
Gas prices in Lynchburg jumped 20 cents just in the morning, and kept climbing in some locations.
In Amherst, several stations jumped from $3.59 to $3.99 per gallon of regular gas by 4:30 p.m.
Wilson filled up on premium gasoline for $3.99 a gallon, since the station had just run out of regular. It was out of gas completely later in the day.
“I don’t want to be paying like $6 or $7, if that’s how much it’s going to end up being,” she said.
The price jump at the pump worried some government officials that price gouging could occur.
While wholesale and retail gas prices are expected to rise, the governor’s office asked people to call the Virginia Office of Consumer Affairs
at (800) 552-9963 if they
feel prices have jumped
unnecessarily.
The gas run caused traffic jams and safety concerns in several parts of the area.
Lynchburg Emergency Communications reported traffic tie-ups Friday afternoon because of the gasoline situation at several locations, including Timberlake Road near Laxton Road, Candlers Mountain Road, Lakeside Drive, Old Forest Road and Wards Road.
“The cars being backed up into the street makes it kind of dangerous,” said William Aldrich, director of Lynchburg’s Emergency Communications Center.
Lynchburg Police Captain Brandon Zuidema said officers were being sent to traffic tie-ups to see if assistance was needed to restore traffic flow. At 4:30 p.m., officers had to start directing traffic at the Wilco station on Campbell Avenue due to the traffic
problems.
Those efforts tied up resources to handle other problems in the city. “It’s frustrating on everyone’s part, including ours,” Zuidema said.
Local gas stations weren’t the only places where long lines formed.
Sheetz Inc. fuels most of its five Lynchburg-area stores with gasoline from the refineries that closed. So Sheetz sent tankers north to pick up fuel.
But, of course, so are other suppliers.
“We literally have tankers sitting in line, waiting to get to the front of the line” to fill up, said Sheetz spokeswoman Monica Jones. “We’re doing our best to get product down there from other spots, but supply is pretty tight right now.”
The Sheetz on Lakeside Drive and the one on Wards Road in Campbell County completely ran out of gasoline Friday night, but they should receive more shipments soon, she said.
BP cut its ration of gasoline that goes to local Apple Markets to 70 percent of normal, said Warner Hall,
president of Workman Oil Company.
He said that considering the company’s current supplies, the Apple Market stores on Friday were not limiting gasoline
purchases.
The Pantry convenience store chain, which has about 1,600 stations in 11 southern states, saw things differently.
It asked customers at about half of its locations to buy only 10 gallons of gas at a time.
Similar requests were made during hurricanes Rita and Katrina to slow panic buying, CEO Pete Sodini said. The chain’s stores include Kangaroo and Petro Express.
Hall said the current situation also doesn’t justify panic buying. However, “if we get notification at about 5 o’clock today that the terminal is out of gas, then it’s totally justified,” he said.
“It could get better, or it could get worse, but I assume it’s going to get a lot worse.”
Exxon Mobil Corp., Valero Energy Corp., ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil Co. were among the companies that stopped refinery operations on the Texas coast, primarily in the Houston area. The area accounts for about 20 percent of U.S. refining capacity.
A news release from the governor’s office said several agencies are taking steps to help get gasoline to areas in the state that need it.
State agencies have issued waivers to allow gasoline tanker trucks to skip weigh stations and get to stations more quickly.
The state has asked the Environmental Protection Agency for permission to waive the use of the more expensive summer blend of gasoline.
In a news release, Kaine said, “While we should have adequate supplies in Virginia, we ask Virginians to do what they can to help people in the Gulf region by conserving fuel by not taking unnecessary trips or wasting gasoline.”
Reader Reactions
just wanted to post again and back up ancjmc, people in lynchburg are idiots, when the roads have alittle snow on them people still think they can drive the speed limit and then they cause massive wrecks and grid lock. we have snow every year and the people of lynchburg still can’t figure out that you can’t drive the speed limit when there is snow or ice on the road you need to slow down. that’s off the topic but still it goes along with the other topic which is a great deal of lynchburgers being retarded.
the gas station owners are to blame yes, but so are the people of lynchburg and everywhere else that freaked out on just a rumor. this really goes to show you that people as a whole are stupid and dangerous, can you only imagine if a REAL crisis were to happen in this city. we have already shown numerous times we couldn’t be able to handle it with the prediction of flurries and people raid the store for milk and bread, and in one day the city of lynchburg used up most all their gas resources. that is pretty pathetic, and scary knowing how people responded to this little panic, and being shown how irresponsible they would be in a real crisis. next time we are going to need the police to babysit the pumps because people are stupid.
I agree with In The Middle that the businessmen should not have increased the prices…......their action added “fuel to the panic” (pun intended)
There is little question but that some Timberlake businesses, especially in the Waterlick area, violated Virginia’s Post-Disaster Anti-Price Gouging law last Friday.
If Sheriff Gaddy really cares about Campbell County citizens, he will prosecute the offenders. Since this is not likely to happen, those who feel they were ripped off should call the Virginia Office of Consumer Affairs at 1-800-552-9963 to express a complaint.
Most importantly, the citizens of the Timberlake area should cease to patronize these merchants for any product in the future and take their business to the merchants on the other end of Timberlake who tried to hold the line. If those who gouged lose enough business to go out of business there will be considerably less gouging in the future.
I had a good long time this morning to think about this while I was driving 10 miles out of my way to find a gas station WITH GAS and I must say I am inclined to agree with the first posted comment. It’s something about the people around here. Everyone should be completely embarassed by their behavior yesterday. I even heard 2 accounts of fist fights out at Thomas Terrace Exxon on 460.
It’s the same way when they call for any bad weather, people just seem to go nuts. Why so high strung?
Do you honestly think if gas went to $7.00 a gallon you are going to out run that problem with one tank of gas? You’re not! Instead your going to empty the city of nearly all it’s gas for a weekend. Thanks!
Now I’m no fan of the oil industry but yesterday was in no way their fault. This was self inflicted.
I hope for the future, gas stations will have the foresight to ration gas in cases like this. If Lynchburgers can’t rationally think for themselves maybe the oil companies can think for us.
Also I called home to my mother across the state and asked if they were experiencing the same thing, she laughed and said no.
I agree with ancjmc. What’s wrong with Lynchburg shows up in the gas line and the voting booth. Let’s face it, people here are easily swayed. Most people here, not all, refuse to engage in any analytical thinking. They’ll vote for McCain because he’s white and Republican, never mind that the last eight years of Republican rule have been disastrous and McCain has promised to follow Bush’s policies. Anyway, I’m a little off subject but I, too, was out of town yesterday and when I heard about the lines and panic I said “only in Lynchburg”.
Yeah, somebody in the Lynchburg/Roanoke area caused everyone to freak out. I was in Washington, DC, when my wife called me and told me what was going on in Lynchburg. I filled up in Washington, DC, for $3.59, there were no lines or panic. Prices increased a little as I headed south, but there were no lines and plenty of gas. Gas could still be had in Charlottesville for $3.63. But when I reached Lynchburg, after the panic, gas was all sold out. The Citgo on Timerlake Road was $4.19—gas was $3.49 when I left the day before. If Gov. Kaine wants to prosecute for price gouging, he can start in Lynchburg. And the people of Lynchburg and along 460 should do us a favor and not fly into hysteria when the governor asks people not to “overreact.“
ancjmc, it’s very kind of you to take the time to come here and tell us what idiots Lynchburgers are. You’re quite fortunate that there is not a run on gas in your idyllic part of the world. Lynchburg is far from the only place where gas stations have been mobbed, though; it’s been happening all over the country. I agree that it’s ridiculous, but to single out the people of Lynchburg is also ridiculous.
There is plenty to do in Lynchburg if you bother to get out and do it. How lucky you are, though, to live in such a superior place now, where you can park your high horse. Hope you don’t fall off!
I would like to say thanks to the stations that did not raise the price of gas yesterday the second they could. I think the places that raised their prices are guilty of price gouging and should be ashamed of themselves. The price of gas in the tanks they already have did not go up. I do realize that most places are owned by chains and the station managers have to do raise prices when told. I just think the companies took advantage of a situation to make a few extra bucks.
I’m not sure what is in the water in Lynchburg, but you guys freak out over the smallest thing. I used to live there, thank god I got out of that lame excuse for a city. I live near the beach and there is nothing like that going on here, people arent lined up at the tanks at all, much less getting into fist fights! What idiots, jamming the streets and tying up traffic. It will go back down in a few days, the gas is not going to disappear! Calm down and keep your butts at home, it’s not like there is ANYTHING to do in Lburg besides eating out anyways!
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