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I've already said a list of the Top Ten Things I Never Thought I'd Have To Say Out Loud to An Adult is, "Here's how to wash your hands..." I have another to add. "Don't fill plastic bags with gasoline." 

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Why am I saying this? Because...well, it's 2021, and while I'm pretty sure the panic won't come to Minnesota, but you never know how the panic will spread and when you're panicked, you might do something without thinking.

The Colonial Pipeline, which transports about 45% of the fuel consumed on the East Coast, has been shut down since Friday following a ransomware attack.

Gas stations have fuel outages in 11 states and the District of Columbia...In North Carolina, 65% of stations have outages and in Virginia, 44%...Images have surfaced on social media recently of drivers using nontraditional containers to store gasoline. (CNN)

Social media's seen an array of photos and videos of people using less than safe containers to hold the gas. The ones with people using plastic bags are old and not at all related to the current issue, but concerning enough for the US Consumer Product Safety Commission to issue a warning/reminder.

Which was followed up with...

Interesting note in that same CNN story; A statement from the Sheetz gas and convenience store chain executive muckity-muck says it's not a supply problem, it's the fear of a supply problem...

"These shortages are not due to supply issues but are a result of extremely high demand causing stores to run out of fuel before the next scheduled delivery," said Adam Sheetz, executive vice president of operations at Sheetz. (CNN)

u/Godlyeyes via reddit
u/Godlyeyes via reddit
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Maybe just like toilet paper at the beginning of the pandemic, FOMO...ATP (Fear of Missing Out...At the Pump) is causing more of a supply problem than the pipeline being hacked.

One more thing quick...I've never heard of the chain Sheetz, so I looked them up.

Above all else, Sheetz is about providing kicked-up convenience while being more than just a convenience store. Sheetz is a mecca for people on the go. If you need to refuel your car or refresh your body, we have what you need to keep you moving on to whatever comes next. (SHEETZ)

Sounds a lot like our Kwik Trips...though they win points with the way they get to describe their level of clean: "Freakishly Clean Sheetz Promise ." It's like they named it that JUST for the joke.

As always, if you have a comment, complaint, or concern about something I wrote here, please let me know: james.rabe@townsquaremedia.com

Listen to James Rabe and Jessica Williams 6a to 10a on Y-105 FM's Early Morning Show.

Speaking of gas, let's get nostalgic and look at the price of gas the year you started driving...

LOOK: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving

To find out more about how has the price of gas changed throughout the years, Stacker ran the numbers on the cost of a gallon of gasoline for each of the last 84 years. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (released in April 2020), we analyzed the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline from 1976 to 2020 along with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for unleaded regular gasoline from 1937 to 1976, including the absolute and inflation-adjusted prices for each year.

Read on to explore the cost of gas over time and rediscover just how much a gallon was when you first started driving.

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