The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-06-10

Edson "shortagc" 70 ac- ute that it is being reflected in higher prices, Is something that requires looking into If ever any, thing did. IL just doesn't make sense, but h trying to get at the why's and wherefores, you run iii. to . long series of riddles.
 In tho first place, there is no Shortage" of oil or gasoline. The big East Texas oil fields, which ran wild until state quotas Oil produc. ton were put into effect, could more than supply all U. s. needs If wells now kept oi1 limited supply were allowed to produce to capacity, That would leave the immense pro- ductIAn of California, Oklahoma, Illinois and Louisiana aS reserve, How docs that add ID to make a shortage7
 The only real, imaginary or ap. parent scarcity in sight is one that might affect tic Atlantic Seaboard, and it would hit here only If there should develop c shortage Of trans. poftation for petroleum products Transportation iii this case means; 1-Tankers to ship the oil from ports on the Gulf of Mexico to ports on the Atlantic Coast 2-Tank cars to ship the oil by rail. 3~Tank trucks to haul by highway. 4-Pipe lines.
 Take 'em one nt C time.
 OF TANKERs, AND TANK CARS
 At least s tankers. aggregating some 100000 tons of shipping. have in recent months been transferred from U. S. to foreign registry. These with some 10 other tankerS are engaged principally fiji shipping of for Britain. Vessels under U, E, Registry cannot ship directly Co England, but they can go into ileu. tral ports of South America or Al. rica for traiis-shlpnGnt, These 4O tatikers, however, represent less than 10 per cent of the tanker ton- mage owned by U. S. oil companies and should not create a shortage Of bottoms if vessels left iil the U. z, coastal trade were supplemented by other means of transport.
 Latest figures Oil railroad tank cars, collected ifl September, f040, indicated there were l06,600 tank cars, collected in September, i040, indicated there were 106,800 tank cars iil petroleum products service. 1 Nearly 00000 of these cars were owned by the oil companies or their subsidiaries, 1000 being owned by the railroads. There was, however, q surplus of iG,000 tank cars for the business then existing, which ins dicates that the transportation Of petroleum products by rail could bG stepped up if correctly organized and trainioad rates pitt into effect 10 reduce cost Of haulage, with re- quirement8 for immediate unloads ing and return Of emptieS.
 Tank trucks and trailerS are now uged extensvieIy by the oil coin- panieS for highway haulagc from railhead to supply stations. Organ ization of these tank trucks into q pool for long distance transport could Do Of material relief in gtrat- egic areas. Standard limit Of capacl- ty or these tank wagons is 4o00 gallons weighing some i8 tons. State legislation in Tennegee, Ala bama and Mississippi limits loads to IS tons and in Kentucky 1t is nine tons. ReStrictions like these night have to be modified, but there Is a fair means here for increasing transport facilities to maintain sup. ply.
 Because shipping by tankcrs is the cheapest means Of transport for pes troleum products, pipelines 10 the Atlantic SeaboArd are not numerous, but even the existing 67,000-mile pipeline network could Dc made 70 carry increased traffic. one difficul- ty here Is that the pipelines are owned by the major oil companies or their subsidiaries, and though by law pipelines have been declared 10 be common carriers, tariffs iin- posed by the pipeline companies make their use by independent oil producers almost prohibitive.
 PAGE THE EXPLAINERS
 One of the major pipeline projcctf now under consideration iS the so- called Plantation Line to feed gas- olInc from Baton Rouge to Jack son, Birmingham, Atlanta, Greens boro, N. C., and possibly Portsmouth, Va. It is being held up by action Of the Georgia legislature in refusing to grant pipelines right-of-way uii- der eminent domain. It Is pointed out that this and other projected lines frmo Texas to New York rec fineries would take enough steel to build four or five battleships. And simpler than that might be the plans to build short connecting lines from TexasA to New York re- dently owned pipeline systems. Links between Longview, Texas, and Ok. mulgee, okla, East St. Louis and Roxana, Iil., Whiting, Indr and Toledo, O., Lima and Canton, O. would intgerate the pipeline system of the entire gasoline supply Sys- tenn of the midwest and middle At- lantic states.
 And why gas price should go uT in Iowa, or why the entire east should have jOy-less weekends wher we have gasoline to export to Ja. nan and Soviet Russia iS EometNIHl