Ike - this could get bad
 

The Houston to Galveston to Port Arthur and Orange TX and on into LA contains about 1/3 of the nations petro-chemical refining capacity. Most of these refineries are built very near the water. They are built to withstand hurricane force winds but can't really be protected from flooding.

The National Weather Service is predicting up to a 20-25 storm surge in the NE quadrant due to the extremely large size of Ike. A surge much higher than would normally be expected from a Cat 2 or 3 storm.

If a 25 ft storm surge goes up the Houston ship Channel and surrounding areas much of the refining capacity on the gulf coast will very probably suffer heavy damage. Between damage to offshore platforms and this, gas prices will go way up. Hang on to your wallet, you can't drill your way out of this.

I'm think that $6 is about right

Its a big sucker.

Some reports on the internet report long lines and panic buying of gasoline and prices hitting close to $5 a gallon... and this in places far from the gulf coast.

That's why I've already filled up all my cars and a couple spare gas tanks, and I'm planning on biking to work for the indefinite future.

Just what the unfortunate people of the Houston area need is to be gouged on gas. I think the best thing to do in this country is to nationalize oil production and refining. Don't stop at Freddie and Fannie. One crisis ='s another. All those billions of profit need to go to reducing the nat'l debt.