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The next time a Gulf Coast hurricane cuts down the flow of fuel to North Carolina, our governor might have new powers to decide who gets precious gas — and who doesn't.

The Senate approved and sent to the House today a bill authorizing the governor to ration fuel supplies in times of disasters and other emergencies when markets are disrupted, Bruce Siceloff reports.

The measure would expand on the state’s power to combat gasoline price gouging in similar situations. Last September, Hurricane Ike closed some refineries and pinched the pipeline flow of gasoline to North Carolina, causing prolonged shortages in several cities. Several retailers were fined for gouging after they sold regular gas for as much as $5.49 a gallon.

Gov. Beverly Perdue has not decided whether she wants new authority to ration fuel supplies.

"Governor Perdue wants to make sure North Carolina citizens can get the fuel they need during a time of crisis," said Chrissy Pearson, her press secretary. "She is reviewing this legislation as it continues through the legislative process."

North Carolina motorists might not get a break in gas and diesel fuel taxes this summer, after all.

The tax is scheduled to drop by 2 cents to 27.9 cents a gallon on July 1. The current tax, 29.9 cents, has been the highest allowed by state law since 2006, Bruce Siceloff reports.

But — to boost revenues for the state Department of Transportation — the Senate Finance Committee this week proposed to make 29.9 cents the minimum rate, instead of the maximum.

If the General Assembly agrees, the July 1 tax cut will be canceled and the rate will stay the same — and it could go higher in the future.

North Carolina's motor fuel tax rate is set by a formula that rises and falls with a percentage of recent wholesale gas prices. The rate is fixed at 17.5 cents plus either 3.5 cents or 7 percent of the wholesale average, whichever is higher.

The Senate Finance proposal would fix the rate at 17.5 cents plus either 12.4 cents or 7 percent of the wholesale average, whichever is higher. That adds up to a minimum tax of 29.9 cents per gallon.

More after the jump.

A poll shows continuing support for offshore drilling.

The survey by the conservative Civitas Institute think tank showed that 72 percent of voters support drilling at least somewhere off the coast of North Carolina.

The poll showed 41 percent support drilling as long as it is not visible from the shore, 31 percent support drilling anywhere off the coast and 22 percent did not support drilling. Six percent had no opinion.

"It appears voters overwhelmingly support drilling off the coast, whether it is a plurality that would allow it within sight of land or huge majorities allowing it somewhere off the coast," said executive director Francis De Luca.

The legislature has appointed a task force to study whether the state should allow offshore drilling. 

The live phone survey of 600 likely general election voters was conducted April 21-23 by McLaughlin and Associates of Alexandria, Va. It has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.

U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan said she is not opposed to drilling for oil or natural gas off the North Carolina coast if that is what the state decides to do.

"If the state determines that we need to be drilling," Hagan said, "I would support that."

She said North Carolina should get a healthy share of any revenues — perhaps 35 percent, Rob Christensen reports.

"I'm not opposed to it," Hagan said in an interview.

But she said the environmental impact, the cost of retrieving the oil and gas, and what kind of reserves are off the coast are all factors that would have to be weighed.

A few more interesting Senate bills filed recently:

S.B. 49: Broaden Price Gouging Restrictions, Sen. Steve Goss

S.B. 50: Storage Fees by Towing Services/SHP Rotation, Sen. Goss

S.B. 56: Assistance to Voters, Sen. R.C. Soles Jr.

House Speaker Joe Hackney chose a number of professors for a task force on offshore drilling.

The Chapel Hill Democrat named half of the 24 members of a task force that could spend as much as $100,000 and over a year looking into the state's position on drilling off the coast.

Doug Rader, chief ocean scientist for the N.C. Environmental Defense Fund and the member of an earlier panel that came out against drilling, was his choice for co-chair. Rader has previously criticized proposals for offshore drilling.

Other Hackney appointees include professors of civil engineering, economics, marine sciences and geosciences; the owner of an oil distributor; the representative of a natural gas company; and a former Cabinet secretary.

After the jump, the names and job titles of Hackney's 12 appointees.

Related: Basnight's appointees to drilling task force

The co-chair of a legislative task force on offshore drilling editorialized against it last year.

In a guest editorial in the Charlotte Observer on Sept. 3, Doug Rader wrote that drilling for oil and natural gas off the coast of North Carolina will not reduce gas prices, jeopardize the state's fishing industry and threaten rare coral wilderness.

"The bottom line is clear: oil drilling off North Carolina's coast is not relevant to gas prices we are likely to experience in the coming decades," he wrote.

Rader was appointed by House Speaker Joe Hackney to co-chair a task force that will spend as much as $100,000 and up to a year looking into offshore drilling.

The chief ocean scientist for the Environmental Defense Fund, he served on a panel for Republican Gov. Jim Martin in 1989-90 which came out against exploratory drilling off the coast.

After the jump, the editorial.

The federal government made its first move Thursday toward drilling off Virginia.

The U.S. Department of the Interior issued a call for public comments as it begins considering the environmental effects of offshore drilling.

That would be the first step toward opening 2.9 million acres of waters to leasing in 2011.

The move will be closely followed in North Carolina, where the Outer Banks is just southwest of the area being considered.

"In some ways, North Carolina is the next place after Virginia that ... the federal government would like to go," said Michael Gravitz of Environment America, a coalition of state environmental organizations. "Virginia is the first chink in the Atlantic Coast armor."

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr supports offshore drilling, and Sen.-elect Kay Hagan has backed a compromise bill that would have allowed for some drilling. Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue has said she will appoint a panel of experts to look into the issue. (N&O)

N.C. Transportation officials expect road construction money to continue decreasing over the next two years.

The department's revenue from gas and car sales taxes is down 11 percent, or $317 million, from what was budgeted in July, according to Mark Foster, the department's chief financial officer.

"We're not anticipating a rebound over the next couple of years," Foster told the Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight Committee Thursday.

Foster said the department expects a similar decline in the budget that runs from July 2009 to June 2010. Prices for construction material have skyrocketed, especially on petroleum-based asphalt, while gas and car sales taxes have fallen due to fewer car purchases and less driving. The gas tax also was capped at 29.9 cents two years ago instead of rising with gas prices to pay for similar rises in asphalt prices.

The current dip in gas prices and lower construction bids have helped, Foster said. Both could speed up construction — the good news — but that creates a cashflow problem of having the money to pay for construction that finishes early — the bad news.

"We're not sure where this story ends," Foster said.

A robocall praises U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole on offshore drilling.

The Associated Builders and Contractors' Free Enterprise Alliance is making automated calls to Norh Carolina voters noting that the Salisbury Republican voted to allow offshore drilling.

"America needs energy independence," a woman says in the recorded call. "That's why Senator Dole cosponsored the Gas Price Reduction Act, opening more offshore areas to harvest domestic energy, lift the moratorium on oil shale exploration in the Western states, and reduces our dependency on foreign sources."

Both Dole and Democratic rival Kay Hagan backed a failed bipartisan compromise bill that would allow offshore drilling and promote alternative energy. The Gas Price Reduction Act was a Republican-backed alternative that would have gone further on oil exploration.

The Washington-based group has made two other calls targeting Hagan over earmarks and the state budget. A lobbyist for construction contractors, it is concerned about Hagan's support for a bill that would make it easier to unionize.

After the jump, the script.