why are people go into panic about gas shortage?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/09/22/atlanta.gas.crunch/index.html

Atlanta residents went nuts about gas shortage. This city isn't the only one in panic mode. I know it is due to hysteria.

what start this hysteria?

According to the article, the pipeline that leads there isn't running at 100% capacity and they have local environmental laws that prevent them from using other sources.

We had a similar thing happen a year or so ago here in Phoenix - a pipeline was damaged and we had some slowdown in delivery. We actually had plenty of fuel in the storage tanks outside of town, but more trucks were being used to cover for the ruptured pipe so there were fewer to do delivers. One afternoon, a station in central Phoenix ran out of gas. Of course, it made the news at rush hour, and everyone stopped on their way home to fill up causing a massive surge in demand. Several other stations then ran out.

The frenzy lasted a few days then people got a clue and went back to normal purchase cycles and all was good. Same thing will happen here I expect.

I think that people who don't prepare for occassional SNAFU's go into panic mode when those SNAFU's occur.

Service disruptions do occur and I believe, are occurring more often. I can't think of anyone that I know that hasn't been affected by something during the last couple of years.

With the northern states expecting a "catastrophic" (per The Farmer's Almanac) winter, I wonder what preparations the majority of those people up north are/have made.....

Maybe it's the sudden realization that U.S. infrastructure has become so fragile that our daily routines are threatened. A full tank of gasoline is a tiny buffer between dependency/immobility and independence/mobility. Take it away and people feel claustrophobic and nervous.

I think there was a winter preparation thread a few weeks ago, at least I think it was on here. I answered the question asked, "What are you doing for winter preparations". EDIT There is a thread, and you started it, DOH..... HERE


Now, the LONG lines of people in Houston, trying to get gas in their cars and cans a day or two AFTER Ike shocked me. What ever happened to Gas up before the storm?? They couldn't have used much, if any gas during the storm, so why was there a great need of gas then?

Besides the fact people always expect the system to be there and be able to buy what they need.

Gasoline storage is filled with danger and it scares people to think about doing it.

I use gasoline in my Svea backpacking stove and when I mention that to people they react like I’m crazy. The stuff scares the heck out of most people, So they avoid thinking about it.

Ahh, the ole Svea "bomb" stove. I know of several that do that. Just burns dirtier. Do you run it through a coffee filter first?

I’ve had a Svea for 30-years. I have 2 of them. Lots of people like to say they are bombs, but having asked almost every person that says that, not one of them has actually seen one vent. I’m convinced it’s an urban myth that just gets taken for granted. A friend or a friend of a friend etc. says one vented, but never a first hand account.


No I don’t filter the gasoline at all. I have only used gasoline in my Sveas and never had one clog at all. It may be an old design (first came out in 1899) but it’s still a very good stove that I feel has many more years of life and use ahead. New ones are priced high by most peoples way of thinking ($100.00) but it’s going to outlast the buyer and can take a lot of abuse in a wide range of environments and next to wood it’s the least expensive camp stove fuel made. As far as burning dirty, it’s a nice blue flame?

I was there when 1 "vented" and caught fire at a PATC cabin in VA. There was too big a pot on it, and I suspect it overheated. I'm thankful there was a fire extinguisher in the cabin, even if the Sierra Cluber did not know how to use it.
Saw 2 very dirty ones go off on the AT over the years. So 3 first hand accounts here, LOL

Thanks for the info on the gas for fuel. I used to use gas in my very old and well loved MSR Firefly, but I filtered through a coffee filter first. Never had any problems with the Firefly that could be blamed on the gas. I know a large number of AT hikers that say they use gas in their stoves, but never saw them fill them myself.

The significance of petrol is one of the things covered in the "Crash Course" linked from the Time to quit bailing thread.

Put a gallon into your car, drive until it runs out, then push the car back home again. That'll give you an idea of how much human labour it is worth, and what life will be like when it's gone. It's not running out, exactly, but it's becoming asymptotically rare and when the time comes it will become unavailable quite rapidly.

I dare say the people panicking don't have a deep economic grasp; nevertheless the occasional shortage is like an intimation of mortality for someone who thought they would live forever.

Becuase petrochemicals are one of the cornerstone of the current culture in North America and Europe. The most obvious and easily identifiable forms of these are gasoline and diesel fuel, and heating oil. When the other cornerstones (liquidity, low cost food, and liberties) are all uncertain, TEOTWAWAKI looms in the eyes of many.

Simple enough.

Maybe in Atlanta the folks panicked about fuel shortages because so many of them reportedly commute long distances in cars. I read that they don't have much in the way of public transportation from the outlying towns.

When you're running in a rat race, it's easy to assume the supply network will always be there like it usually is (as BobS notes above). It's easy to get lulled into complacency, to think "there's time for that later," or to not even realize you're slowly being boiled alive.

I've noticed at the grocer and at the fuel pump that some people become not only angry but offended during shortages. This may come from a sense of entitlement or maybe just a general cluelessness that, as the saying goes, "the world owes you nothing."

Could you imagine a World without Oil?

I wonder why it’s only a regional problem? Not a problem here, we have all the gas you want to buy here. The stations are not busy at all.

I think they use a special blend to cut down on emissions.

The Colonial pipeline runs from Houston across the southeast states and north along the Atlantic states. It is apparently running at reduced capacity due to lack of supply coming from the Houston area refineries. There are multiple reasons for the shortages, but this is a significant one.

Take a look at THIS map on gas shortages.

i did not read every post but square one is you need a car and the gas to run it to do just about anything in large parts of the US..

I live ½ mile from a refinery fill point, and this morning when I drove by it there were about 30 tankers in line to get filled. It’s rarely this busy, wonder if they are shipping it (by tanker truck) to other areas?