Gas crunch looms for Olympics vistors

With gasoline supplies improving in many other sections of the country, the possibility of a big gas crunch is looming large at the Winter Olympics. A recent issue of the Lunberg Letter, an authoritative oil industry newsletter, says gasoline refiners have started to allocate more gasoline to dealers nationwide. It says the lines at pumps that have cropped up in some areas should virtually disappear within a month.

But the immediate picture here is not as optimistic.Area dealers are scrambling for supplies as Winter Olympics spectators by the thousands pour into surrounding communities and park their automobiles for the final trek, by bus, to Lake Placid.

Typical of the coming gas crunch was a Mobil station in Keene, 13 miles from here, which was fast running out of gas. Some dealers are refusing to sell to any but their regular, local customers until more supplies are assured. Essex County energy coordinator B. J. Cook has asked the state energy office for an additional 750,000 gallons for local dealers.

Federal energy authorities so far have refused requests for emergency allocations, local officials say.