With a late harvest, wet corn and an unseasonably chilly fall, demand for propane has skyrocketed, straining supplies and forcing suppliers across Iowa to ration the fuel, reports the Des Moines Register.
Iowa elevators are scrambling to get propane for customers, with trucks waiting in line for 10 to 12 hours at propane terminals.
Gov. Kim Reynolds signed an emergency proclamation to help boost supplies by lifting restrictions on how many hours drivers can work.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration likewise lifted driver restrictions across Iowa and seven other Midwestern states with propane shortages.
New Century FS, a Grinnell, IA, elevator that provides farm services in nine counties, is sending trucks across Iowa and to pipelines in Kansas and Oklahoma for propane, Kevin DeGoey, New Century's energy marketing manager, told the Register.
