It's Rough Out There
Click for a photo essay about a town in its death throes.
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High gas prices threaten to shut down rural towns
By Judy Keen, USA TODAY
July 2, 2008
FORKS OF SALMON, Calif. - The price of gas isn't an annoyance here. It's a calamity.
Peggy Hanley uses a generator that burns a gallon of diesel fuel every hour -at about $5 a gallon- to power Forks General Store, the only place to buy groceries for miles around. There's no electric service, so Hanley, the owner, uses the generator to run eight refrigerators, nine freezers, lights and two ice machines for the store, which has been in a trailer since a fire destroyed the original building in 1994.
There are no utilities and no public transportation in this unincorporated town of a couple hundred people along a narrow road that winds through the mountains 314 miles north of Sacramento. Many people here buy gas for their vehicles and gas or diesel for generators that power their homes.
"I'm scared to death" of rising fuel prices, Hanley says.
Are you afraid?
You should be.Electricity shutoffs up 40% in hard times, intense heat
by Ryan Randazzo
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 28, 2008
More Arizonans are paying their electricity bills late and having their power cut off, a problem that could worsen for families with the approach of summer's most intense heat - and highest bills.
Nearly 56,000 households in Arizona Public Service Co. and Salt River Project territory fell far enough behind on their bills to be cut off from power from January to May, a 40 percent jump from a year earlier, according to the utilities.
Most of the increase came from SRP territory, where the number of disconnects is up 64 percent for the year. APS hasn't cut as many people off but has seen double-digit increases in the number of those getting a final 24-hour notice and seeking payment extensions, officials said.
Utility officials blame the trend on the bad economy.
Yes, the economy, the bad, bad economy that is due to the machines that turn money into natural resources being down. Someone needs to reboot them and quickly too.
also:
High gas prices threaten to shut down rural towns
By Judy Keen, USA TODAY
July 2, 2008
FORKS OF SALMON, Calif. - The price of gas isn't an annoyance here. It's a calamity.
Peggy Hanley uses a generator that burns a gallon of diesel fuel every hour -at about $5 a gallon- to power Forks General Store, the only place to buy groceries for miles around. There's no electric service, so Hanley, the owner, uses the generator to run eight refrigerators, nine freezers, lights and two ice machines for the store, which has been in a trailer since a fire destroyed the original building in 1994.
There are no utilities and no public transportation in this unincorporated town of a couple hundred people along a narrow road that winds through the mountains 314 miles north of Sacramento. Many people here buy gas for their vehicles and gas or diesel for generators that power their homes.
"I'm scared to death" of rising fuel prices, Hanley says.
Are you afraid?
You should be.Electricity shutoffs up 40% in hard times, intense heat
by Ryan Randazzo
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 28, 2008
More Arizonans are paying their electricity bills late and having their power cut off, a problem that could worsen for families with the approach of summer's most intense heat - and highest bills.
Nearly 56,000 households in Arizona Public Service Co. and Salt River Project territory fell far enough behind on their bills to be cut off from power from January to May, a 40 percent jump from a year earlier, according to the utilities.
Most of the increase came from SRP territory, where the number of disconnects is up 64 percent for the year. APS hasn't cut as many people off but has seen double-digit increases in the number of those getting a final 24-hour notice and seeking payment extensions, officials said.
Utility officials blame the trend on the bad economy.
Yes, the economy, the bad, bad economy that is due to the machines that turn money into natural resources being down. Someone needs to reboot them and quickly too.