Tiffany Wright, a spokeswoman for the motor club based in Charlotte, North Carolina, says the higher prices should be temporary until full fuel shipments resume.
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Colonial Pipeline Co. was ordered by the U.S. Department of Transportation to “take corrective action before the fuel starts flowing again”, and the company said it is constructing a temporary pipeline to bypass the leak.
Some states have already issued executive orders warning against price-gouging as individuals have noted certain gas stations charging as much as 2.99 for regular grade gas.
But De Haan said efforts to truck gasoline into North Carolina can not keep up with the volume the pipeline provides. The GasBuddy app collects information like prices and availability from gas stations and allows users to pinpoint which stations have gas.
Rising prices and plastic-wrapped nozzles were a common sight Monday at gas pumps as the Lakelands saw the effects of a gas pipeline leak that left the region facing a shortage. The company said they are trying to get additional resources from Gulf Coast refiners to ship supplies.
The company is in the process of creating a bypass line around the site of the leak.
Fuel price website GasBuddy reported Monday that the average per-gallon price among 229 New Haven-area gas stations fell 0.8 cent to $2.25.
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal signed an executive order on Monday preventing gas stations from significantly raising their fuel prices.
While prices across the nation are averaging a few cents higher than last week, a gallon of gas in North Carolina costs about a dime more than it did last week. Sell-outs range from 21 percent of unbranded suppliers in North Carolina to 7 percent in Georgia.
A representative from auto group AAA said area prices were up as a result of the spill, but that “Charlotte shouldn’t experience any shortages”. However, there’s been some reports of price gouging.
On Sunday night, McCrory released a statement saying that he had been in contact with Colonial about a time-frame for the pipeline fix.
The governor’s statement says state officials are working to make sure that motorists are protected from excessive gas prices and minimize any interruptions in fuel supplies. That’s because of a leak that was discovered along the Alabama stretch on September 9. DeKalb County Emergency Management Agency officials said until that time the issue should remain more of an inconvenience than an emergency. It’s unclear when the spill actually began. Colonial says it shut down the line within 20 minutes of being notified of the leak.
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Deal is encouraging Georgians to stick to their normal gas-buying habits and not to buy out of panic. On Sunday, in Raleigh, the Sheetz on Atlantic Avenue was completely out of gas while a nearby Shell only had 93 octane.
