Out of Gas

Saturday, September 20th, 2008

Nashville and the entire Middle Tennessee area is experiencing a severe gas shortage. 85% of Nashville area stations are out of fuel, and long lines of desperate motorists fill the few stations still pumping.

WKRN News 2, reports:

Mike Williams, executive director of the Tennessee Petroleum Council, said until refineries damaged in Hurricane Ike are up and running, drivers will continue to see problems at the pump.

“We’re in a very unusual circumstance right now where the refineries aren’t operating at full capacity,” he told News 2 earlier this week. “Tennessee depends mostly on a pipeline that comes from Houston to

New Orleans to Atlanta to Chattanooga to Nashville and Knoxville. That’s where most of our gasoline comes from.” (Source)

Police have been directing traffic at some stations as traffic backs up onto major roads and even Interstate highways.

The Tennessean reports of drivers tempers flaring at the pumps, but speaking from personal experience today I found people to be in good spirits, friendly and even helpful.

Your mileage may vary.

Tags: Fuel, Gas, Nashville, Shortage
Posted in Economy, news | 3 Comments »