Governor extends waiver for fuel haulers

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By RICHARD PIERSOL / Lincoln Journal Star

The whereases all add up to continued tight supplies of gasoline and diesel fuel, forcing longer trips to fuel terminals farther away.

So Gov. Dave Heineman on Thursday extended until Oct. 10 his waiver issued earlier this summer on hours of service for commercial truck drivers carrying motor fuel.

The extra service hours allow truckers to fetch and deliver fuel from farther away, in a regional fuel market bottleneck that some are calling the worst since the Arab oil embargo of the 1970s.

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Dave Heineman

Dave Heineman

In North Dakota, the Environmental Protection Agency waived summer gas standards so the state could import gasoline from Canada.

Supply shortages continued to “run rampant” in many pockets of the Midwest this week, with some North Dakota stations out of gasoline just ahead of the last major driving weekend of the year, reported the Oil Price Information Service.

“There is a major shortage going on right now,” said Mike Rud, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Marketers Association.

The supply squeeze shows little let-up in South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota, sources  told the information service.

Meanwhile, gas prices in other parts of the United States have been easing, but problems at refineries that serve the upper Midwest have conspired to keep gasoline prices higher here.

No retail stores in Nebraska have reported being out of gasoline, according to AAA spokeswoman Rose White, quoting Tim Keigher, of the Nebraska Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association, which represents retailers. Keigher could not be reached for comment.

But in North Dakota, a lot of unbranded retailers cannot get fuel, Rud told the Oil Price Information Service.

For months, North Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska marketers have operated under the hours of service waivers on truckers Heineman extended on Thursday. Safety is the reason for the restrictions.

Rud said not since the oil embargo of the 1970s have supplies been so tight in the region.

Brian Johnson, director of finance at Casey’s General Stores, wasn’t sure he’d go that far.

Then he talked to Debbie Grimes, who’s been buying gas for Casey’s for 30 years and agrees with Rud.

Still, things are actually looking up from circumstances in July, Johnson said.

“It’s been challenging,” he said. “We have our own fleet of trucks.  That gives us more flexibility than the little guy.”

In July, it was not uncommon for  any of Nebraska’s nine fuel terminals, except Omaha, to be out of gasoline for a week at a time, Johnson said.   

Magellan, a pipeline company that has terminals in Omaha and Lincoln, apparently chose to make Omaha its hub, Johnson said, so when other terminals were empty there would be lines five hours long at the Omaha terminal.

The terminal in Geneva rationed 20 loads a day during July, according to Johnson. 

“That’s a pretty severe ration,” he said.

Casey’s, which has 98 stores in Nebraska, adapted by driving its trucks a lot farther.

Normally, Casey’s delivers 70 to 75 percent of its own gasoline, but it dipped down to 50 percent, Johnson said

“We were driving so far we had to contract out,” he said.

Those contract carriers were accommodating their biggest customers, Johnson said, so he repeated his sympathy for “the little guy.”

As things stood Thursday, no terminal in Nebraska was likely to be out of fuel for more than a day or two,  according to Johnson. 

Every year has spots when gas is unavailable somewhere, Johnson said.

But he noted that Grimes, the Casey’s gas buyer, confirmed the severity of this year: the most challenging summer in her 30 years in the business.

Reach Richard Piersol at 473-7241 or at dpiersol@journalstar.com.