Drivers dig deeper as gas shoots up
Ocean assemblymen put out call for special session of Legislature
BY DAVE BENJAMIN
Staff Writer

Passing several gasoline stations on Route 9 the other night brought back memories of the long gas lines of 1973 and 1979 when shortages in the supply of gas put motorists on a schedule that restricted their purchase of fuel.

Last week, some Route 9 gas stations had queues of 10 to 15 vehicles waiting to fill up, while several station operators said they had run out of gasoline.

After Hurricane Katrina damaged Gulf Coast oil production facilities, Monmouth and Ocean County motorists saw an immediate impact as gas prices rose to their highest levels in history within 24 hours of the storm.

Just one day after Katrina blew into Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, gas prices in central New Jersey shot up from about $2.40 per gallon to well past $3 per gallon, reaching about $3.25 for a gallon of regular gas and 10 to 20 cents more per gallon for premium.

By the end of the week, a pair of Ocean County legislators, state assemblymen Joseph Malone and Ronald Dancer (both R-Mon-mouth, Ocean, Burlington and Mercer), had sent letters to acting Gov. Richard Codey and Assembly speaker Albio Sires, asking that a special session of the Legislature be convened “as quickly as possible to evaluate the looming crisis.”

Malone and Dancer also called for hearings to be held by either the Assembly Budget Committee or the Transportation Committee to study the situation.

“The current events in the Gulf states and their unbelievable effect on skyrocketing fuel prices lead all of us to the conclusion that we need to hold a special session of the Legis-lature to evaluate the impact on the state budget and the economy of New Jersey,” Malone and Dancer wrote in their letters.

The Legislature is not scheduled to reconvene until after the Nov. 8 election.

Assemblyman Michael Panter (D-Mon-mouth and Mercer) said, “We are seeing a lot of finger pointing, but very little real information about the cause of this unprecedented increase in fuel costs. Some motorists could soon be approaching $100 per fill up.”

In 1973, an embargo by oil producing nations in the Middle East sent prices rocketing from about 25 cents per gallon to more than $1 per gallon.

Prices eventually rebounded and were at about 80 cents per gallon when a shortage in 1979 put people back on lines once again, burning fuel to buy fuel. It was not uncommon to see a line of cars stretching along the shoulder of Route 9 as motorists sought out stations that had gas and waited for hours to buy $5 or $10 worth.

And it is the gas station owner who once again appears to be caught in the middle between customer and company.

“The gas station owner does not determine the price of gasoline,” said one owner who did not want to give his name. “The prices are determined by the distributor who calls the station directly.”

Today, some station owners get their prices on-line directly from the distributor or the company.

Stations get a supply of gasoline and are told what price to charge. When that supply runs out the price can be changed, according to the owner, who said, “The market rules and the distributor pretty much calls the shots.”

The owner said his profit margin is low and remains about the same no matter what the price is.

Stations on a main route which handle a higher volume would use up their supply of gas sooner than a less traveled route and therefore would raise or lower their prices more frequently.

“They would have more deliveries each week,” said the owner. “Some [off the main road] stations get a delivery once a week, while those on Route 9 can get three deliveries in the same week. They can see an increase faster. That’s why the prices go up.”

Assemblyman Robert Morgan (D-Monmouth and Mercer) said, “In addition to the tremendous loss of life and property, Hurricane Katrina put a strain on petroleum providers near the Gulf Coast, an area that according to CNN refines 40 percent of the nation’s oil.”

Since the prices began rising, many consumers have been wondering whether pricing has been fair, Morgan said.

Greater Media Newspapers staff writer Mark Rosman contributed to this story.