Columbus driving highest gas prices statewide

Gasoline prices across Georgia have fallen below the $2 a gallon mark. But a new survey finds Columbus has the highest average price in the state.

AAA said prices at the pumps have tumbled more than a dollar in the past month. The statewide average price for regular-grade gas is $1.96 as of Monday morning. The national average is $2.08.

Augusta has the cheapest metro average for regular at $1.92 a gallon. Columbus had the highest average at $2.05, although several stations in the downtown area dropped to $1.99 over the weekend.

One year ago, Georgia motorists were paying $3.03 for regular fuel, on average.

Oil and gas prices are in a downward spiral because of investors' fears that a global economic slowdown will hurt demand for fuel.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of gas prices.

(AP)

Perdue asks Bush for help to ease state gas crisis

The gas supply crisis for much of north Georgia continues, with drivers still fighting long lines at stations that have gas. This afternoon, Governor Sonny Perdue took another step in hopes of easing the shortage, by sending a letter to President Bush. Perdue is asking the White House to release a "significant amount" of crude oil from the Strategic petroleum reserve, to refineries in the Gulf. The hope is to more quickly bring the system back on-line, and get gas through the pipeline to Georgia. Late Monday afternoon, Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle commented on Perdue’s letter in a press conference inside the State Capitol rotunda:

"I think the Governor's actions today to announce that he's calling on the President to get into the (Strategic National) Reserve is a very important process, because everyone is being impacted, because the Gulf is a huge supplier of fuel--not only to our state, but to the Southeast..."

Cagle says he expects the situation to improve "soon".

Perdue tells drivers 'don't panic'

Governor Sonny Perdue is telling Georgia drivers to not panic, and take only necessary trips in order to conserve gasoline supply in the state. Perdue made his comments Wednesday morning, a day after federal officials relaxed restrictions on fuel blends gas stations can accept. 45 Georgia counties are covered by the waiver. In many parts of metro Atlanta, drivers have waited up to an hour to fill-up.

Perdue says his office is on the phone every morning with distributors, and says the state is on the backside of the shortage:

"We think we’ve peaked as far as the lack of production capacity and these pipelines are re-filling...these distribution points are filling back up. And hopefully that will be experienced by the customer very, very soon."

Perdue says that timetable should be four to five days for improvement. However, if the situation does not improve fast enough, Perdue says he might consider options like a state holiday to preserve supply.

Concerning the charge leveled by state Democrats that he dragged on addressing the gas shortage, Perdue responded:

"That’s what the opposing party always says is you didn’t do what you should have done fast enough, soon enough. That’s what a being a Democrat is all about is trying to tell those others in government how to run government while they had it for 135 years."

State gets waiver to help gasoline supply

Governor Sonny Perdue’s office says the waiver of a clean-burning fuel requirement should help "somewhat" in the aim to boost supplies of gasoline in a 45-county area of the state. Tuesday, federal environmental officials granted Perdue’s request for the waiver, which extends through October 12th. It applies to a swath of counties from the Alabama state line to the north Georgia mountains. The waiver allows more of the "dirtier"-burning gas to flow either through pipelines, or to arrive by truck delivery from as far away as Ohio and Pennsylvania. Many gas stations in certain pockets of the state, especially metro Atlanta, have been running dry. The gas outages have sparked long lines at stations with supplies on-hand. The gas shortage is a direct effect of recent hurricanes in the Gulf. Officials say it could take another week or two for some refineries to get up-and-running to full capacity.