The gas crunch that much of the state and the South are in now could be alleviated if the U.S. began increasing — and diversifying — its number of oil refineries.

Hurricane Ike shut down much of the nation’s oil refining capabilities along the Texas Gulf coast, and gas shortages have crippled some larger cities in Georgia. Hurricane Katrina also disrupted the supply from Gulf of Mexico oil rigs three years ago, and a Congressional candidate said it’s time for the U.S. to start thinking about where to put refineries.

“We’ve got to start building refineries that are immune from these hurricanes,” Stone said. “We haven’t built a new one in 30 years.”

The existing refineries have been expanded, but plans for new ones are hindered by regulations, he said, so it’s proven to be cheaper to add on to the current refineries.

“We’ve got to do some major things in this country for energy and transportation,” Stone said.

Stone, the Republican nominee for the 12th District U.S. House seat held by Savannah Democrat John Barrow, also called for the revival of the plans for the I-3 and I-14 highways. I-3 was drawn up to connect Savannah to Augusta and then go north into the Carolinas and Stone would like to see I-14 connect Augusta to Macon to Columbus, and then go west to Montgomery, Ala., and eventually Natchez, Miss.

“We’ve got to have true interstates,” he said.

I-3 is needed as the port of Savannah continues to grow and even though Highway 25 is being widened to four lanes all the way to Augusta, “it’s not good enough,” Stone said.

The new interstates were introduced by former Congressman Max Burns and former U.S. Sen. Zell Miller and then by U.S. Reps. Jack Kingston and the late Charlie Norwood and current Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, Stone said.

“The feasibility studies were fully funded,” he said, “but they have sat on the back burner.”

Stone, a former top aide for Burns, said the 12th District would benefit the most from I-3. His plan calls for the interstate to go straight up the Savannah River valley and then make it a new I-81. That interstate starts at the U.S.-Canadian border and goes through the Shenandoah Valley to Asheville, N.C.

“Then you connect to (Interstate) 26, and you have a highway from Savannah to Canada,” he said.

But Stone’s plans don’t stop there. He also wants to have some right-of-way alongside that would include a bed for a possible light rail, with a rail line from Toccoa to Savannah.

“That would leave ourselves an option to put in light rail in a few years,” he said. “But you’ve got to have options. If we have mass transit, we give people an option.”

There isn’t even an Amtrak line connecting Augusta, Macon and Columbus with each other, Stone said, and he also backs having a rail line connecting Savannah International Airport with Augusta’s airport.

“That’s what we need to do,” Stone said. “If we do it now, we’ll do it at little or no cost, compared to a few years from now. Right now is the best and cheapest time to do it. This area is only going to have more growth.”

Stone also called for a new reactor to be built at the Savannah River Site that would be for commercial purposes. The SRS was built to produce weapons-grade material for the nation’s nuclear arsenal, but its three reactors currently are not operating. A refinery also could be built there and oil could be shipped by barge up the Savannah River.

“We’ve got a site the size of Rhode Island,” he said. “Here’s an area where we’ve set aside land.”

The Savannah River Site was chosen originally for the nation’s nuclear bomb-making facilities because it had the lowest winds, Stone said, and it already has full air defenses to prevent a terrorist attack.