Christie May Lift Gas Rationing Monday

mrvrnj421 November 9, 2012 at 10:14 pm

It is ridiculous for there to still be a shortage on gas at this point. There should be no issues getting gas into the state by now.

Dan November 9, 2012 at 10:43 pm

Jcp&l still missing their projected dates, why should anyone believe Sunday for full restoration

noyb November 10, 2012 at 01:16 am

there is no shortage of fuel right now. The problem remains that the gas stations have no power along with everyone else. No power, no gas. when thousands of people are forced to all use the same gas stations they end up with mile long lines. Rationing is the only way to go for now. In the future they may want to consider making it mandatory for gas/grocery stores to have generators when built. That is what they do it Floriday and the gulf they do not have the same problem. We do not get this type of weather often so its overlooked very easily. I work in the industry, the general public has no idea of how much damage there really is and what it takes to fix it. There are utility crews here from Texas and Canada and they are working round the clock to fix stuff. Calling the power company asking when its going to be on isnt going to make it go on any faster. We all just have to wait it out and do the best we can. Its tough and we all know it. Good neighbors and friends are here to help.

Need a Change November 10, 2012 at 02:11 am

Like Gov.Christie said your happy to friends and family get power but if its not your your really not happy..So everyone has the right to be pissed off but storm hit us like no other storm ever hit us..God Bless Us All....

Edward Dooley Jr. November 10, 2012 at 02:33 am

According to a news report this morning only 1 of 8 refineries is back up and running.
The other 7 had some serious damage to their electronics from flooding and are in the middle of restoring it. They also reported that the NY tankers that deliver to the stations there have to travel 2 hours South below NJ 195 and 2 hours back to get and deliver gas. They were turning the tankers around in 90 minutes instead of 4 hours before Sandy hit the refineries.

Edward Dooley Jr. November 10, 2012 at 02:43 am

Well said. I also heard that the refineries and distribution places were severally affected too. Is that true?? Our Wawa has a generator system and they never stopped pumping 24/7 unless they ran out and the delivery was late.
Patience is the key. Since you work in the industry, I just want to say Thank You to you and all the other workers out there that are dedicated to rebuilding our energy systems and lives..

Barbara Babcock November 10, 2012 at 01:08 pm

Is there any information on how long the wait is at area gas stations?

Sal November 10, 2012 at 01:10 pm

There are well over 100 million barrels (4.2 billion gallons) of gasoline ALREADY refined and sitting in fuel storage tanks all over NJ when Hurricane Sandy hit. Our nation has over 390 MILLION barrels on gasoline ONHAND and already refined. All refineries have tens of millions of gallons of ALREADY refined gasoline in storage tanks at their refineries___so the electric power going out has NOTHING to do with the Supply on-hand. The gasoline shortage was cause solely by gasoline stations being closed due to lack of electricity. WARNING: Be careful where you buy your gasoline for the next month or so, since you might want to avoid buying from gas stations that were flooded and underwater, because water might have entered their underground storage tanks.

Sal November 10, 2012 at 01:14 pm

Instead of whining and complaining___trim YOUR trees on YOUR property so they do not fall and cause power outages. They are YOUR trees that fell and caused this mess and not the trees of JCPL.

Jean Vitta November 10, 2012 at 02:29 pm

if they are township trees you cannot prune or remove. up to town to take care of them

Sue K November 10, 2012 at 05:27 pm

I agree with Sal. We have an apple tree in our yard but my neighbors have oak and pine trees. Every storm branches end up in my yard. Because their trees aim away from their house they don't care. Time to change the laws and make the Homeowner of the tree responsible!!!

Jeff Barr November 10, 2012 at 05:29 pm

It's JCP&L's responsibility to trim trees near power lines. It's posted right on their website.

Rob November 10, 2012 at 06:10 pm

The trees on my property near the power lines were just trimmed by PSE&G not so long ago. They did the whole neighborhood. Although this storm did a number on trees and power lines, at least they are involved in preventative measures.

Rob November 10, 2012 at 06:12 pm

I was told by a friend (not sure how accurate, but worth at least looking into), that if you have reason to be concerned about a neighbor's tree, you have the right to write them a letter about your concern and if it's documented they are legally responsible for making sure the tree is not a threat. I didn't check if that is actually a law, or by township, or whatever, but you may have a right to force your neighbor to deal with the tree that is a danger to you.

Technokat November 11, 2012 at 01:30 am

I can't help but chuckle at the notion of "threatening trees." (If you cannot laugh in this crisis, you'll cry.)

noyb November 11, 2012 at 02:29 pm

as far as I know the refineries are up and running again. All did shut down for a short pieriod of time but all back up and running. There was a quick shortage of #2 diesel in the area. thousands of buisnesses and generators were and still are running. the demand for fuel skyrocketed after the storm and I have customers who were buying fuel from places as far away as Texas and Ohio. That problem only lasted a few days and is not a problem any more. Listen I know people are upset but they just dont understand the process in which the damage has to be repaired. Line crews cant just drive down the street and say hey heres a pole down lets fix that! The entire system has to be repaired and tested before tehy can just turn it on. Entire grid systems have had multiple failure points and they have to be found and fixed before they "throw the switch". It takes time. There are over 3500 line crews from all over the country in NJ alone. PSE&G normally has less than 1000 total. So put that into perspective. A lot of people are on gen power thank god for Wawa... most are open and on rental gens.
I dont want this to sound bad but this storm has the capability of kick starting the econemy again. The huge amount of money flowing in the NE right now is good for this country, everyone needs to stick together to get thru this and I promise it will get better... Just going to take some time.

Technokat November 11, 2012 at 03:23 pm

" Listen I know people are upset but they just dont understand the process in which the damage has to be repaired. Line crews cant just drive down the street and say hey heres a pole down lets fix that! The entire system has to be repaired and tested before tehy can just turn it on. Entire grid systems have had multiple failure points and they have to be found and fixed before they "throw the switch". It takes time. There are over 3500 line crews from all over the country in NJ alone. PSE&G normally has less than 1000 total. So put that into perspective. "
Thank you for that perspective. The masses do get restless when they go by assumptions of how systems work, and these assumptions are without the proper background. I do wish power companies would have explained the situation as eloquently as you have despite attempts to do so. Many people have been calling for better communication, and rightfully so. The only good thing that could possibly come out of this mess is a movement to upgrade the power grid and sub-stations. It will come with a price, but the public focus must shift to this undertaking of energy system upgrades. We can no longer ignore this issue. In upstate New York, there are wind energy systems in place that successfully service customers as far south as NYC. New Jersey needs to find alternative solutions soon.

noyb November 11, 2012 at 03:59 pm

I think they will need to explore other ideas in the future the problem lies in the fact that most of the electrical system is above ground in the us. Power companies such as our local utility simply do not have the man power and equipment to rebuild and repair when there is this much damage.

noyb November 11, 2012 at 04:00 pm

That is whay they have other line crews come in to help. If they were to just fix a set of lines and then trow it back on they could do more damage down the street around the corner. The system will protect itself and trip grids and substations off line when faults occur. Have you ever been in you house and the lights flicker then go off. 20 sec later they come back on? Thats not a person doing that. many times it a branch or animal that shorted a cable. the system has protection in front of that it will automatically trip then reclose to try and reenergize the line. many times it will try 3 times to "clear the fault" sending a burst of energy dwon the line will sometimes blow the branch off the lines (or squirrel). Sometimes the fault is not so severe and the line breaks will not trip. You see that when a wire falls on the ground and arcs. the fault just isnt big enough to trip. Someitmes there may not even be anything to trip open. many times if the fault doesnt clear on its own in 2 or 3 attempts the line trips open and they must send out a line crew to investigate the circuit before they can just turn it on. Now think about how many lines are down here, how many faults occured. If they just throw it on they could burn your house down cause the wires are sitting on your garage. they have to inspect every line. They have test equpment to help so its not like they have to lierally drive down every street.

noyb November 11, 2012 at 04:00 pm

The process just takes time they dont want to get hurt and they dont want to do more damage and hurt you. They have to do this with thousands of crews all over the state, all at the same time. Its a massive, massive undertaking and they are working hard with in house crews, outside utility crews and outside sub contractors. All of which have to be paid. Much of the money will come from FEMA and the government. So the entire country is paying for it thru our taxes. This storm was so big it took out almost 10 million people. Katrina wasnt even close to the same kind of damage. The governor and politicians (IMO) have done a really good job and continue to do so. I have no doubt there will be changes in the future but those wont help get the power back on today. Work hard but be safe and the power will be back on.
I heard they were going to lift the gas restrictions soon thats only because more and more of the grid is being restored every day.

mrvrnj421 November 12, 2012 at 10:09 pm

In response to noyb and Technokat:
First off, I totally agree people just do not understand everything that goes into getting this all sorted out and repaired. The power companies literally have all hands on deck and then some. So while it is obviously frustrating and I sympathize with everyone who does not have power, they really are doing their best. Regarding communication by the power companies, I can't speak for all the companies but I would argue that PSE&G has done a commendable job of communicating the situation. I have been receiving constant updates since before the storm even started. They outlined all of the measures they were taking to prepare for the storm, all of the extra linesmen they were bringing in from around the country, and exactly what the process would be once the storm hit. Since the storm, I have received constant updates on number of outages, what work needs to be done, and expected length of outages broken down by region. Can't ask for much more from these guys if you ask me. They are working hard around the clock.

Technokat November 13, 2012 at 04:20 am

mrvrnj421, how have you been receiving these notices? The only communication I have noticed is on the update page. I've been monitoring it like a hawk, but it gives no indication of when power will be restored. It just shows the number of households in NJ without power.

mrvrnj421 November 13, 2012 at 03:28 pm

Technokat:
I have been receiving the updates via email from PSE&G. They had also been communicating daily updates to my apartment building's management company.