Legislation Needed to Fix Gas Shortages, State Rep Says

A member of the General Assembly's Energy Committee, state Rep. Matt Lesser announced Thursday that he is planning to introduce legislation next year that will ensure that in the event of a power outage, every town will have at least one working gas station.

"This isn't about convenience," Lesser said. "This is about public safety."

Lesser, who represents Durham, Middlefield and Middletown in the Connecticut General Assembly, cited long lines and confusion immediately after Winter Storm Alfred and Hurricane Irene. When gas stations lose power, they are no longer able to pump gas.

"Everywhere I went after the storm, people asked me if I knew where an open gas station was," Lesser said. "Without gas, they couldn't get food, emergency supplies, power their own generators or do much of anything. People were waiting for hours in Cromwell or traveling to the shoreline just on the rumor of a gas station."

Lesser's proposal would provide an auction mechanism where gas stations in each town could bid against each other for an emergency generator.

"If you lose the bid and your competitor gas station gets the generator, you'll go buy one yourself—or else you'll lose a lot of business the next time there's a power failure," said Lesser. "This is just part of a bigger conversation about ensuring that we have critical infrastructure in place during the next disaster."