Word: dieselization
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...source of trouble has been that the Government has been trying to please everybody in managing the shortage. The Department of Energy has set up a hideously complex allocation system that essentially works like this: an oil company first sets aside 5% of whatever gasoline and diesel fuel it expects to have available each month to be used as state governments direct. It then sets aside as much more as may be demanded by certain priority users?police, for example. After that, it parcels out the remaining supplies among gas stations, essentially equally but with some adjustments; stations in areas...
...cloth to mend a hole in the sleeve of a coat by snipping a piece out of the back and hoping no one will notice. Critics charge that far too many exemptions have been granted. One example: the rule that farmers should get as much gasoline and diesel fuel as they demanded made sense in early spring, when they were rushing to plant crops. But the regulation was continued too long, and may be one reason why some rural areas now are awash in gasoline while cities...
...while it is easy enough to blame the Government, the public's "me first" spirit is fouling up matters too. Truckers are now demanding unrestricted access to diesel fuel, while farmers get all they want. Simultaneously, other consumers clamor for exemptions for any gas-rationing system or demand that heating-oil stocks be built up to guard against a cold winter. There is no way that refineries can give farmers and truckers unlimited supplies, turn out maximum supplies of gasoline and build heating-oil inventories?and the Government has failed to set clear priorities...
...enough to make up for the curtailment of supplies from Iran. The situation raises two questions: 1) Which products should be rushed out? The Department of Energy has never seemed able to make up its mind whether to urge maximum output of gasoline or of distillates (heating oil and diesel fuel), though last week Schlesinger came down firmly on the side of distillates. 2) How fast should refineries run down their stocks of crude oil in order to supply gasoline, heating oil and other end-products right...
...immediate necessity is to set firm priorities for gasoline, diesel fuel and heating oil production, devise a more effective allocation system for distributing them, and enact a stand-by gas-rationing plan. Those steps will not increase overall supply, but they might calm the panic buying that is turning what should be a moderate shortage into a nightmare. Indeed, the nation had better get used to coping with shortages. The one in 1973-74 disappeared quickly after OPEC turned on the spigot following the end of the Arab oil embargo. The cartel seems unlikely to do so again, and even...