Katrina a cause for local concern, planning

By CHARLIE BUTERBAUGH

REGION — With the nation heading into a season that researchers say could bring additional hurricanes as powerful as Katrina, few issues could be of more concern to river valley residents than the need for emergency preparation and the high price of gasoline.

While hurricane numbers undergo swings from year to year, Tropical Storm Risk, a London-based consortium of experts, predicted that the Northeast would see 22 tropical storms during the six-month June-November season. The French news agency, Agence France-Presse, reported that, according to the consortium, global warming, which affects ocean temperatures and trade winds, is the factor breeding the storms in the Caribbean and North Atlantic.

What all this means for the Northeast will depend on a number of circumstances, but given two major flooding events over the past year, and in light of the unfolding catastrophes caused by Hurricane Katrina along the Gulf Coast, flood mitigation is driving a substantial amount of work in the Sullivan County divisions of Planning and Community Development and Soil and Water.

As stated in the county’s new Flood Management Implementation Plan, “In the wake of serious flooding that occurred during the fall of 2004 and the spring of 2005, the need for a coordinated flood management throughout our towns is critical for the economic well being and safety of town residents.”

This spring the county legislature agreed to fund the plan, and planning commissioner Dr. William Pammer reported last week that new positions of GIS technician, in his department, and engineer technician, in the Division of Soil and Water, have been filled.

The technicians will study high-risk flood areas and identify streams in need of restoration.

“The critical issue on this is not only education of towns in terms of timely land use planning but also stream restoration and stream cleaning,” Pammer said.

He said dredging is not exactly the goal. “It’s more of an opportunity to find high-mark areas in streams and being able to increase stream capacity to handle extreme water during floods to minimize risk,” Pammer said.

The technicians will also map high-risk areas and review current zoning to determine whether changes are needed to ensure an effective flood plan.

Pammer said the idea is to facilitate an intergovernmental operation with towns, the county and the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation and Emergency Management Office. He also wants to strengthen ties between the county and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

High-risk streams named by the plan include the Beaverkill, Willowemoc, Callicoon Creek, Pine Kill and Neversink.

High prices lead to lower gas purchases

Far from the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, gas stations in Sullivan County were reporting a decline in the amount of automobile fuel sold this Labor Day weekend, compared with last year’s sales. The stations were directed to raise prices because of a nationwide fuel shortage that was caused in part by damage to oil pipelines and refineries along the Gulf Coast.

In Monticello, Stewart’s Shops’ sales were down 1,200 to 1,300 gallons, and an Exxon station clerk, Nadim Hireni, said he saw a big difference in sales to date.

Beth’s Country Store in Narrowsburg, which operates a Shell station, was able to maintain its price per gallon of regular fuel at $3.39, whereas Exxon and Citgo stations in Monticello were selling regular fuel at $3.49 per gallon. Nonetheless, Luanne Cole said the Narrowsburg Shell station saw a decrease in sales over the weekend. She said a general sense of panic washed over customers on Friday as rumors of gas reaching $4 per gallon and stations running out of gasoline in Middletown spread.

“How did it affect us? Everyone yelled at us like we did it,” said Stacy Leroy, a clerk at Stewart’s in Monticello. There, clerk Anine Harrison tells frustrated customers to write their congressmen to ask for a change in gas prices.

On Tuesday, Rep. Maurice Hinchey called for U.S. Congress to approve legislation to help relieve customers from record level gas prices and for the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the possibility of price gouging on the part of oil companies. Hinchey highlighted legislation he is cosponsoring in the House that would provide a gas tax credit for many customers, as well as another measure that would force a massive federal investigation into price gouging.

Hinchey also discussed his plans for new legislation that would tax oil companies on the record profit levels they are enjoying while average Americans struggle to pay for a tank of gas.

“While Hurricane Katrina undoubtedly has had an impact on U.S. oil production, the storm should have no effect on the price of gas already sitting in underground tanks at neighborhood gas stations,” Hinchey said. “We are seeing price gouging all across New York and the country, and it has to stop.”

Hinchey reported that oil companies are posting record profits, while customers struggle to find the extra money to pay for the high cost of gas. In 2004, Exxon-Mobil generated a record-setting profit of $25.3 billion, a 218-percent increase over the previous year. Conoco Phillips saw a 145-percent profit increase, Shell saw a 51-percent increase, Chevron Texaco saw a 39-percent increase and BP saw a 35-percent spike in profits.

Cindy Redmond of Stewart’s was wearing a pin that said, “We pay for it too.” Redmond said area gas stations have no control over the pricing of their gasoline. “We don’t know exactly how much it will be until we get the call.”

Stewart’s Shops President Gary Dake said his company, which is based in Saratoga Springs, concentrates its stores in certain areas, and thus each store keeps less gas in supply than stations owned by larger companies. Dake said that when Stewart’s raises fuel prices, the company does not distinguish between the fuel already in supply at stores and fuel that has not yet been delivered. “We effectively just ignore the inventory,” Dake said.

Stewart’s aims to make 15 cents on every gallon of gas it sells, but Dake said “there were days last week when we were happy to make zero” instead of losing money. He said people often decide to use credit cards when gas is expensive because they don’t keep enough cash in their wallets to pay $60 tabs, and the company has to pay a fee each time a consumer pays with a credit card. Dake said that last year, Stewart’s paid $4 million in credit card fees.

At the Exxon station, Hireni feels the sting of running emotions. When customers get overwhelmed with the price tags posted overhead, he explains to them that the same situation is happening everywhere.

The Sullivan County Legislators agreed last week to send a letter to the county’s federal representatives in order to make some noise about the high price of fuel and the possibility of price gouging.

Lisa Cutroni contributed reporting for this article.