WATERLOO -- As average gas prices touch on record highs around the country, a plea for automobile users to boycott gasoline on May 15th has been working its way through cyberspace.

Recent e-mails and MySpace posts are being distributed urging automobile drivers to participate in a "gas-out" on May 15. One version of the message claims if drivers abstain from purchasing gas for the day, oil companies will suffer a blow to their bottom line in the neighborhood of approximately $2 billion.

While the message asks drivers not to fill up on the 15th, it does not actually encourage them to use less total fuel. Even if the grassroots campaign is a success, motorists will still consume the same amount of fuel -- just not on May 15.

"The prices, whether it is gas or tomatoes, are based off of supply and demand," said Jim Lind, owner of Jim Lind BP in Waterloo. "If the one-day strike does not lessen demand for fuel, it really won't have any effect."

The only economic impact a boycott would have on the oil industry is in the supply chain. If the boycott is successful, gas station owners would likely have to deal with a surplus of gas reserves. Lind likened the possibility of a successful boycott to the effects of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

"That day we sold 13,000 gallons of gas because everybody was hoarding it," said Lind. "We normally sell 3,000 to 6,000 (gallons per day), so that just raised holy havoc."

Lind said he commended those who were trying to bring attention to the nation's energy problem, but did not think a one-day boycott was a reasonable solution. City Councilman Kamyar Enshayan, who is also an adjunct member of the environmental studies faculty at the University of Northern Iowa, agreed with Lind. "The only effect of this is sort of a protest," he said. "I would rather see people channel their frustrations in a different manner."

According to urban legend Web site Snopes.com, this year's gas-out is not the first of its kind. Similar messages have been distributed over the past seven years, but their plea has fallen mostly on deaf ears.

"I have noticed no difference (in business activity)," Lind said of past years' gas-out efforts. "That's not to say they can't show a difference, though."

The gas-out arose as a non-sensical approach to cope with rising gas prices. According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), the average price per gallon of regular unleaded gas in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls area was $2.950 yesterday. That figure is only 10.9 cents off of the highest recorded price of $3.059, set on September 4, 2005. The price has risen dramatically in the last month alone, leaping more than 26 cents per gallon since April 8.

Lind said simple conservation efforts -- such as occasionally riding a bike to work -- would have a bigger aggregate impact on gas prices than a one-day boycott. Enshayan believes an increase in public transportation could be the key to solving the nation's energy woes.

"We have metro transit, and I am glad that we have it," said Enshayan. "But even 50 years ago, we had a lot more options." Enshayan said he supported the rebuilding of a central transit system to give Americans an option besides using a motor vehicle.

"Right now, we just have no other options," said Enshayan. "And until we do, we will continue to be held hostage by gasoline."

Contact Drew Andersen at (319) 291-1418 or drew.andersen@wcfcourier.com.