Quote:

Illegal Machine said:
It's said that the price increase is not related to terrorism or refinery shut downs, etc.

Its actually due to the new emission requirements. A lot of the additives that are currently used in gasoline are being replaced with ethanol, and the processes to create and transport ethanol are not developed.



Gasoline Shortages Reported on East Coast

    Some gasoline distribution terminals from Virginia to Massachusetts are seeing shortages as the industry phases out a water-polluting additive, the U.S. Energy Department said on Thursday.

    The Energy Department has reported shortages at terminals near Richmond, Virginia, as well as the Tidewater area near Chesapeake Bay and Virginia Beach which distribute gasoline to service stations.

    Northern Virginia, Baltimore and Boston are also seeing shortages, the department's Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability said.

    The Baltimore-Washington, D.C. area has some of the highest retail gasoline prices in the country, with pump prices above $3 a gallon at many stations for regular unleaded fuel.

    The shortages are not because refiners are not making enough gasoline, or because of a recent rupture on the key Plantation Pipeline that carries supplies from the Gulf Coast to the East Coast, industry officials said.

    Rather, the oil industry is rapidly eliminating a gasoline additive called MTBE, banned in several states for polluting ground water, and replacing it with ethanol, a renewable fuel that can't be shipped by pipeline because it absorbs water.

    Because ethanol is a solvent, it will strip corrosion and impurities that build up inside gasoline storage tanks, allowing them to mingle with gasoline supplies,

    That means terminal operators must drain giant tanks that hold gasoline stocks and scrub out the impurities before they can be refilled with ethanol-enriched gasoline.