City, BPW have plenty of fuel, county supply running short

Gasoline and diesel filling the tanks of cars and trucks has become almost as important as water.

Fortunately for the City of Gaffney and the Gaffney Board of Public Works, it's almost as plentiful.

While some local governments face shortages and have curtailed some services in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, the city and Board have ample supplies of gasoline and diesel.

Board of Public Works General Manager Donnie Hardin said the utility has a 3-month supply of gas and diesel.

"The way we buy our stuff is in bulk," Hardin said. "We have plenty of fuel."

Ditto for the city, which had its tanks refueled Sunday.

"We have a 5- or 6-week supply of unleaded and about a 2 1/2-week supply of diesel," Gaffney Administrator James Taylor said.

Another shipment of diesel fuel is due next week, he said.

In a 6-week period, the city uses about 8,000 gallons each of diesel and unleaded gas.

But you can count the county among the local governments struggling to meet its energy demands.

Cherokee County Interim Manager Ben Clary said Wednesday the county has a 4-day supply of gas and has enough diesel to operate its trucks for another 10 days.

The shortage has forced county officials to park their take-home vehicles, he said.

"As of 9 a.m. today (Wednesday), there was no fuel available from suppliers," he said.

But Clary said he expects a fuel shipment to arrive either today or early next week. If that doesn't happen, the county owns a credit card that allows it to tap into the fuel supply of the Department of Public Safety, according to Clary.