Word: gas
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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California seems to have solved the problem of gas closings by taking more drastic action than other states. After officials discovered that the odd-even purchase arrangement was not working because 90% of the stations shut down on weekends, they invoked a four-year-old law that gave them emergency powers in case of a severe energy shortage. Said Richard Maullin, chairman of the California energy commission: "It was definitely time to legislate by decree." Stations with odd-numbered pump registrations were required to stay open on Saturday, those with even numbers on Sundays. Police handed out citations to station...
...nation's fuel shortage was partly relieved when the rancorous independent truckers' strike showed signs of waning. Though it continued to cause trouble in some areas, it was apparently running out of gas in others. In Tennessee, truckers making deliveries were still the target of vandals and snipers. One driver was informed over his CB radio that he was losing a right wheel. When he stepped out to have a look, he was shot and wounded. Because of that and other incidents, Tennessee Governor Lamar Alexander declared an energy emergency, put state troopers on a twelve-hour...
...week, Washington seemed a city without leadership, but Congress was anxious to provide some sense of forward movement. When Democratic Representative Bill Moorhead of Pennsylvania introduced a bill last January to produce 500,000 bbl. a day in synthetic fuels by 1985, he won little support; but when the gas lines began to form, as Moorhead put it, they "ignited the bill." Almost overnight, he found he had 170 cosponsors, including many Republicans...
...chief source of COMECON supply, has fallen 23 million bbl. over five months. Actually, Soviet production was supposed to increase by 154 million bbl. this year to a total of 4.3 billion bbl. The continuing shortage, which has slowed Communist industry for two years, caused a doubling in gas prices last year-to the equivalent of between 830 and $1.10 per gal.-and there were rumors of another doubling as early as this week...
With all these controls, why have prices risen so much faster than expected? One main reason is that market pressures kept prices below the federal ceilings when gas was plentiful. There was price competition among gas stations vying for customers. When supplies diminished, service stations raised the price to the legal maximum limit-an increase that outstripped the OPEC price rise. Beyond that, retailers who sold below the maximum price were allowed to "bank" the difference; now they can legally add that amount to the price they charge for gas. Such are the vagaries of regulation...