Local

Hurricane Isaac impacts gas prices

ATLANTA — Buckhead resident Sims Lamason drives a large SUV and with the price of gas close to $4 a gallon around metro Atlanta, it's causing him to cut costs in other areas.

"Luckily, I don't have to drive a lot but when it costs 60 bucks to fill up your car, it becomes an issue," Lamason told Channel 2's Dave Huddleston.

The price of gas is also an issue for DeKalb resident Gracie Howie.

She is now spending $90 a week to take her children back and forth to school.

"We are now car pooling with other parents to cut the costs of gas. It's ridiculous," she said.

Channel 2 Action News has learned the costs of convenience store owners saw an increase in their cost by 15 cents a gallon, and many of them appear to be passing the costs to drivers, reported Huddleston.

Monday gas was about $3.75 per gallon of regular, in Metro Atlanta; now it's about $3.98 per gallon.

Steve Baker, who represents the Colonial Pipeline Company, said there is plenty of gas in the pipeline and it's up and running, but he can't say the same about the oil refineries in the Gulf Coast states.

"Our biggest concern is loss of power to refineries in the Gulf. If they don't have power to run, that's when we could lose production," Baker said. "We do have generators for the pipeline to keep that going, but the refineries, that's a different story."

Petroleum experts said the price of gas will most likely continue to increase through the Labor Day weekend, when demand is higher and our supply from the Gulf Coast could be less.