Politech: FC: Clinton administration says don't fill your gas tank

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

*********

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,33270,00.html

                     DOE Steps On the Gas 
                     by Declan McCullagh (declan () wired com)

                     12:20 p.m. 23.Dec.1999 PST 
                     WASHINGTON -- Bill Richardson may have
                     a Secret Service driver and go
                     everywhere with a police escort, but he
                     sure knows how to use a gas pump -- as
                     a convenient photo op, that is. 

                     The Secretary of Energy posed Thursday
                     in front of a self-service island at an
                     Amoco station on Capitol Hill to assure
                     Americans that they should have few Y2K
                     worries. 

                     "Fuel pumps will be working," Richardson
                     said. "There will be some glitches, but in
                     the end we'll be ready." 

                     An Energy Department-provided sign in
                     front of him depicted a gas gauge --
                     "1/2: OK for Y2K" -- and Richardson
                     stressed that there's no need to fill your
                     car's gas tank: "The message we want to
                     convey to the public is that half a tank is
                     sufficient." 

                     The reason for his caution, of course, is
                     simple supply-and-demand: Gas stations
                     and oil companies generally have enough
                     fuel on hand for everyday circumstances.
                     But sharply increased demand for gas
                     could result in higher prices, rationing,
                     lines, or shortages. 

                     [...]



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