Why are there gas shortages?!

There were long lines and short tempers, people were desperate for gas for their cars and for generators, some using their cars for warmth and charging cell phones, and all asked the universal question: why is there a gas shortage?

The lack of gas, said Robert Sinclair, Jr., manager of media relations for the American Automobile Association (AAA) of New York, is due to the “loss of a couple of key maritime petroleum terminals, in Jamaica Bay, Lawrence—by JFK, and Newtown Creek at 25 Paidge Avenue in Brooklyn.”

Sinclair noted that since those facilities are on the waterfront, they were subject to the same storm damage experienced by communities at the water’s edge. “When the water rose it flooded the facilities and knocked out the power,” explained Sinclair. “That is key to getting gas to Long Island and New York regions. A lot is delivered by tanker to those facilities and then delivered by truck to retailers. They are out, you don’t have trucks going to local stations, so there are shortages.”

The AAA website notes that 57 terminals were in the path of Hurricane Sandy and eight are in our area and were shut down due to storm damage. Many are along the coast of New Jersey and Staten Island and a major refinery on the New Jersey Turnpike between exits 12 and 13 is down, stressed Sinclair. He said that the refinery produces 238,000 barrels, at 42 gallons a barrel, every day. “That’s a big loss there,” he pointed out. “With these facilities offline, they are scrambling to get supplies from other regions to ours.” For the short term they are trucking gas from southern New Jersey and from Philadelphia, he said, but that takes extra time, dealing with the extra distance and traffic. The Department of Energy is putting out the information, but there is no estimate as to when it will be up, he continued. He said that the facility by Kennedy was “up and running before the nor’easter but the snow on the temporary wiring knocked it off line again. A couple (terminals) in New Jersey that were out came back up, but they really need the facilities in Brooklyn and Lawrence to take care of the situation. In my gut, it will be a week or two before they are up and running again, but we have no assurance of that.”

There are restrictions as to the size of the trucks used for transporting gas through the cities, and they may have to be eased, said Sinclair, noting that the Jones Act of 1920, requiring U.S. built, flagged and manned ships in the port was suspended temporarily. But he noted the difficulty of navigating the huge tanker trailer trucks through cities, recalling a “noteworthy crash on I95 some years ago where the heat was so intense it melted the overpass.” He considers the restrictions warranted, “I can’t say that I blame them.” The odd-even system of allocating gas is helping alleviate the lines somewhat, he said. He noted that some stations cited as operating might only be open a few hours a day. The AAA website noted that their members have been using the website GasBuddy.com to track down open gas stations.

As far as preventing a repeat of the weather related shortages, “what’s needed is major infrastructure to prevent storm surges at facilities,” said Sinclair, citing “proposals for plans for sea walls as in the Netherlands.” He said that in Florida, it is mandatory for gas stations to have generator backup to keep pumping even in a power outage. As for building codes, he deplored the use of two by fours and sheetrock in flood zones, noting that in post Katrina New Orleans, buildings are being built on 40 foot piles sunk 30 feet into the ground, thus having structures resting ten feet above the ground. “A lot of things have to be looked at in the future,” he said.

For more information go to: www.ny.aaa.com