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Getting a Gallon of Gas
In the Energy Capital
Is Not So Easy to Do
As Houstonians Return Home,
Supplies Run Very Thin;
Following the Exxon Truck
By GARY MCWILLIAMS and MELANIE TROTTMAN
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
September 26, 2005; Page A1
HOUSTON -- Dick Kellenbenz was on the prowl Saturday evening for gasoline when he spied an open Exxon station on the west side of this sprawling city. He pulled in and was told a tanker truck would be arriving in about 90 minutes. Dozens of other drivers soon joined him, clogging the pumps, a road alongside the station and the intersection in front of it.
"An hour and a half is a lot [to wait] but I was down to a quarter of a tank," Mr. Kellenbenz explained. After an hour waiting in his car, police arrived with sirens blaring and ordered the drivers to clear out from the service station near Houston's Beltway 8 toll road. Gas wasn't coming after all, they told motorists.
In the self-proclaimed energy capital of the world, nothing has been harder to find before and after Hurricane Rita than a gallon of gasoline. A chaotic evacuation last week to empty Houston in advance of the storm left most service stations in the area bone-dry. Those residents like Mr. Kellenbenz who stayed behind faced a desperate hunt for fuel, chasing the barest rumor of gasoline.
Gas and rumors of gas triggered a panic not seen since the 1970s Arab oil embargo. Houston escaped the storm with relatively minimal damage as Rita made landfall farther to the east. Even so, officials here are so worried about nearly three million evacuees returning with empty tanks, they are asking schools and businesses to close through tomorrow and urging those who rode out the storm elsewhere to stay out of town for up to three days.
Meanwhile, police escorted tankers to service stations in a bid to have fuel ready as Houstonians return home. Police report instances where motorists brandished weapons this weekend at two gas stations. "We got a number of disturbance calls at gas stations," said Lt. John Martin of the sheriff's department for Harris County, which includes Houston. "People are just frustrated."
Local television and radio stations are broadcasting reports of newly replenished stations. The Houston Chronicle newspaper set up a blog site for readers and staff to post information about open gas stations and travel conditions. "A road sign around Sealy indicates no food or gas, however a gas truck was seen at a Shell station near I-10 and Texas 36," wrote one poster about the main highway west of Houston.
The return of Houstonians is likely to be as chaotic as their flight, which underscored the crucial role that gasoline supplies will play in the evacuation of America's biggest cities in the event of similar natural disasters or of terrorist attacks.
People tried to leave the region in an estimated 1.2 million vehicles, trapping hundreds of thousands in jams for up to 20 hours. Instead of piling into one family car, many families fled the city in entire convoys. Fearing a catastrophic hurricane, they trucked out all their prized possessions: recreational vehicles, pets, even household goods piled into the back of pickup trucks. "Interestingly, a lot of families took all their cars," Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said.
Thursday's order to evacuate coastal cities emptied service stations from Galveston on the Gulf to as far north as Dallas and as far west as San Antonio. Fuel purchases in San Antonio surged 87% between Wednesday and Thursday, according to state officials. Now, officials don't want another gas crunch to occur as Houston's citizens return. "If you return today, we cannot guarantee enough fuel, we cannot guarantee safety along the roads because of debris and down power lines, and we cannot ensure a fast return," Texas Gov. Rick Perry said in a statement Saturday.
At a Shell station in Austin, Texas, yesterday afternoon, three evacuees from Houston -- a husband, wife and cousin -- lined up their three separate cars at three pumps to fill up with gas before heading back home. Sharold Britt, a 53-year-old real-estate agent, and her husband, Dan Britt, 57, said they piled in art, jewelry and two dogs before leaving Houston early Thursday morning. The couple's cousin, John Lee, 52, also filled up a 2½-gallon gas container that they planned to share if they came up short on the way home. They borrowed it from a cousin in Austin, which is about 150 miles from Houston, after going to five stores that were all out. "Nobody has gas cans in all of Austin even," said Ms. Britt.
By Sunday, there was a big effort under way to get fuel into hard-hit areas. The Texas Oil and Gas Association, a trade group, said its members helped truck in 500,000 gallons of emergency fuel shipments to the region. Exxon Mobil Corp. said it delivered its regular daily shipment of 531,000 gallons on Saturday, replenishing just 14 service stations in Greater Houston all day long. Usually, the company delivers the same amount to hundreds of stations. There was no guarantee the deliveries could be continued: An Exxon Mobil spokesman said it was drawing down existing inventories. Its huge refinery east of Houston is undergoing repairs due to the storm and the company couldn't say when it would be up and running again.
John Gonzalez, an Exxon Mobile truck driver, worked 13 hours straight Saturday to ferry gasoline to stations along evacuation routes. He said he pulled into one station with a load of 9,300 gallons of gasoline with five cars trailing behind him.
Motorists wait for over two hours to fill up at a gas station in Houston on Sept. 22.
"I've had people making U-turns and getting behind me," he said, beginning to unload his cargo at the Exxon station near Beltway 8. The station was selling gas at $2.65 a gallon, its pre-Rita price. Drivers were clogging the pumps as a line of 25 cars snaked into the station. As one driver plowed over an orange safety cone, Mr. Gonzalez yelled to the driver who merely shrugged before pulling away. "It's unbelievable; they think this is the end of the world," Mr. Gonzalez said.
Jose Ortiz, 19, surveyed the scene from outside the station. "It's a big mess," he said. "This is Houston; we should have the most gas in the country."
Meanwhile, Ken Smouse, a 52-year-old wrecker driver, helped direct drivers at the Exxon station to a line which began a quarter of a mile away and chased away people trying to cut the lines. He used his tow truck to block one entrance. "I'm just helping out; I come here every day and buy my diesel and sodas," said Mr. Smouse, before he sprinted off to stop a car that had swerved around his truck to enter the station.
Some Houston drivers monitored the airwaves for reports of new fuel arrivals. Saturday night, when Ronnie Williams saw a television broadcast of a Shell station near his house getting fuel, he promptly jumped in his car to drive there. But when he arrived, the line of cars was so long, the 46-year-old city worker decided to look for another station. He wound up fifth in line at a Citgo station pump several miles away and happy for the relatively short wait for $3-a-gallon gas. With talk of gas prices climbing as high as $5 a gallon, "I might as well have a full tank," he said.
Government officials are scratching their heads over what to do differently next time. "Pre-positioning fuel supply along major evacuation routes makes some sense," said Texas Sen. John Cornyn. Still, he added, "you don't want to drive [gasoline tankers] into the eye of the hurricane."
Meanwhile, Houston is bracing for the reverse exodus. Freeways into the city and coastal communities can accommodate just 360,000 cars a day, or a third of the number who left. If Houstonians pile back into the city en masse, more traffic jams are likely. |
