Gas Madness

By: Lindsey Noel

Last Friday the threat of gas prices rising as high as seven dollars a gallon had Mount Pleasant in a state of chaos.

The reason for the rumors and anxiety was Hurricane Ike threatening Texas oil refineries where a significant percent of the gasoline that Americans use every day comes from. There are 24 oil refineries in Texas, including the nation’s largest, and many of them were directly in the path of Hurricane Ike.

“I got a call from my mom when she was driving through Jackson, Mich. and she said she passed a gas station that had $5.27 a gallon posted,” said Mike Barron, a Central Michigan University Senior from Lansing. “So naturally, I told all my friends to go fill up their tanks.”

Gas stations up and down Mission St. were lined with people waiting to fill up their tanks with prices around $3.98 per gallon. In many cases, the lines of cars spilled out on to the road causing traffic back ups.

“I waited in line for a good 20-30 minutes and while I was waiting I was calling my friends and family to make sure they knew what was going on,” said Bryanna Hecksel, a CMU senior from Ravenna, Mich.

Psychology Professor Jennifer Ragsdale relates the craziness at the gas pumps to the Y2K or the bird flu.

“It’s just one of those things where people in large numbers seem to have this tendency to jump on any sort of potential 'crisis,'” says Ragsdale. “Also, I think people in general are very uncomfortable with uncertainty. So any sort of uncertainty about the end result of the quick jump in gas prices would be reason enough to run to the pumps while things are still at a 'lower' price.”

Gas never did get to be five dollars a gallon in Mount Pleasant but it did jump up to $4.20 per gallon.