Critical Fuel Shortage Hits Louisiana, Further Threatening Power Supply - Forbes

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Topline

Days after Hurricane Ida devastated coastal Louisiana and knocked out power to practically the entire southeastern portion of the state, a significant fuel shortage has quickly become one of the most pressing issues, since gasoline-powered generators are now one of the few reliable power sources in the area.

Key Facts

The few gas stations with fuel in southeast Louisiana in some cases have lines stretching for miles, with the hours-long waits reportedly causing high tensions and fistfights over line-cutting.

According to GasBuddy, more than 65% of gas stations in both Louisiana and Baton Rouge were without fuel as of 8 a.m. Central time Thursday, and more than 35% of stations were empty across the state of Louisiana.

The lengthy outage after Hurricane Ida swept through the area on Sunday is causing many personal generators to run short on fuel.

Power remains out for more than 900,000 customers in Louisiana, according to PowerOutage.US, including nearly 88% of the city of New Orleans.

What To Watch For

U.S. Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) sent a letter to the heads of the Energy Department and the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday, saying "I strongly urge you" to tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to provide relief for the region. The reserve, created after the oil crisis in the 1970s, is administered by the Energy Department and is the largest emergency petroleum supply in the world.

Big Number

80%. That's how much of the Gulf of Mexico's oil production remains offline, the Energy Department said in an update on Thursday. Natural gas production has been even more affected, with 83% offline.

Crucial Quote

“We need fuel to be brought in before the refineries come back up on their own because right now we don’t know when that’s going to be,” Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) said on Wednesday. The governor also said he's asking President Joe Biden to take action to relieve the fuel shortage. Biden is set to visit Louisiana on Friday.

Key Background

Louisiana's coastal communities were largely destroyed after Hurricane Ida made landfall with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph on Sunday, tying it with two other storms as the most powerful to ever hit Louisiana. An eastward jog by the hurricane after it made landfall also brought some of the worst impacts to New Orleans and its inner suburbs, with the high winds managing to cut off the city from all eight of its outside power sources, including a 400-foot tall transmission tower that crumpled just to the west of New Orleans. Full restoration of electricity across the area is expected to take several weeks, at least, but a trickle of power returning to New Orleans has already allowed some neighborhoods to come back online, including parts of the Central Business District and the French Quarter.