Pittsburgh Area Gas Stations Could Face Shortage
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Gas prices continue to climb upward, but there's an even bigger issue growing in Pittsburgh – a potential gas shortage.
Brenda Reiser, of Ellwood City, is on the front lines of the daily struggle to get gasoline to your gas station.
"I may go in in the morning and they say, 'Nope you can't have any,'" she said. "And then you just call and see if you can get it someplace else," she said.
Normally, the Pittsburgh terminal in Coraopolis is teeming with activity as one truck after another is loaded and sent out for delivery. On Monday, it looked like the place as closed and the other Coraopolis terminals looked the same.
"Because there's no gasoline in the terminals," Don Bowers, of Superior Petroleum, said. "We went to six terminals last night to try to get a load, we were turned away we came away empty. Our station ran out of gasoline."
The issue is with the main pipeline that brings gas to Pittsburgh.
"Buckeye Pipeline had a problem with a pipeline a couple – three weeks ago. That put the scheduling back about five days," Bowers said.
And it's still two to three days behind. So, local trucks are going to Ohio to buy gas that is up to six cents more expensive. By Sunday, when the Pittsburgh summer gas is required or fines are imposed, importing from Ohio won't be possible.
There is no sign the pipeline problem will be resolved and we're all going to see the impact.
"If it goes past Saturday, they're going to see it by going to a station and they're out of gasoline," Bowers said.
As local non-summer gas supplies are further exhausted, expect to see prices climb to pay for that more expensive Ohio gas as the week continues.
The EPA has been made aware of the pipeline issues Pittsburgh is dealing with and could extend the deadline for starting to use summer gas. That would allow suppliers to continue to tap Ohio for gas until the pipeline issues are resolved.
If not, expect even more "no gas" signs to start popping up next week.
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