Not only that but they dont make any money when they have no power.
+++++++++++It just seems like a no-brainer to me. Gasoline at gas stations is a vital commodity in a disaster and no-power situation. It could even apply in certain "homeland security" (what a joke that is) situations, so they could spend homeland security funds to help gas station owners pay for the initial generator setups.
And, the states could even impose certain no-gouging and even-distribution laws that they could put into effect in a declared emergency. They could authorize, for example, that in declared emergency situations the gas stations could charge an additional $1.00 or so per gallon as an incentive for them to stay open at least until they run out of gas, and re-open when they get more gas if the emergency still exists and the power is still out. And, the emergency regs could limit the size of the fill-up per vehicle to 5 or 10 gallons each. That would help prevent all of the gas stations at the very epicenter of the disaster from selling out all of their gas to too few people. By limiting the size of the fill-up, people would be dispersed at to a wider geographic area and could refill their tanks when they are perhaps 100 miles further away from the disaster center.