You would think a govenment wouldn't have to legislate to promote alternative energy when the oil machine seems to be so good at destroying it's own market. Reports of surges in gasoline prices are coming in with the tides of Hurricane Ike.
$6 a gallon in Florida, $5.59 in South Carolina and $4.79 in Virginia.
Nineteen percent of the U.S. refining capacity is clustered beneath the spiral of Hurricane Ike.
"A lot of it is simply incredible," Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said, "and a lot of the price increases make no sense economically in terms of supply and demand." (AP)
At least 13 refineries in Texas shut down as Ike approached. Gulf Coast refineries and ports are the source of about 50 percent of the fuel and crude used in the eastern half of the U.S. Plants operated by Exxon Mobil Corp., Valero Energy Corp., ConocoPhillips and Royal Dutch Shell Plc were affected. bloomberg.com
People in Florida waited in lines all last night to grab all the gasoline that they could before it ran out like a scene from a Mad Max film.
The irony of all this is that the market never changes. Since the 1970's, people have been waiting in lines, complaining about price while the feed on them continues.
Gasoline is the vampire of energy products. In the light of day, the infrastructure seems very fragile. People loath it and would love to kill it, yet they just keep letting it come back to feed on them.
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