The U.S. Department of Transportation has ordered the company responsible to take corrective action before the fuel starts flowing again.
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“This plan has been reviewed by all appropriate federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Transportation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)”, read a posting on Colonial’s spill response web site.
Colonial Pipeline Company announced late Saturday it has received the necessary approvals from federal regulators to build a “bypass line” around the leak in rural central Alabama on Line 1, the major fuel supply artery for the east coast.
The company has acknowledged that between 252,000 gallons and 336,000 gallons of gasoline leaked from a pipeline near Helena, Ala., since the spill was first detected September 9. It’s unclear when the spill actually started.
Gov. Haslam’s executive order only relates to fuel transportation for this state of emergency and waives only the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s 49 Code of Federal Regulations, Sections 390 and 395 rules related to hours-of-service suspensions, and pipeline fix and fuel transportation.
Earlier this month, it was discovered thousands of gallons of fuel leaked out of a broken pipeline in Helena.
An order issued by Gov.
Officials with Colonial Pipeline have been using an alternate line (normally used to carry jet fuel and diesel) to transport gasoline. Colonial said supply disruptions would be felt first in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina and SC.
Tanker trucks line up at a Colonial Pipeline Co. facility in Pelham, Ala., near the scene of a 250,000-gallon gasoline spill on Friday, Sept. 16, 2016.
Some motorists could pay a little more for gasoline in coming days because of delivery delays.
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Gov. Nathan Deal has declared a state of emergency, but for the “limited purpose” of suspending caps on the hours fuel truck drivers can work. “We urge Tennesseans to maintain their normal fuel purchasing and driving patterns to help prevent any potential impacts on our fuel supply while the pipeline undergoes repairs”. That requirement of the Clean Air Act expired at midnight Thursday.
