Gas prices in six states jumped up along with a state of emergency being declared in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
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The line normally carries 1.3 million barrels of refined gasoline per day from refineries in Houston to distribution centers throughout the Southeast and Eastern Seaboard. “But it hasn’t been that bad”, said William Buffalo, a clerk at a gas station in Buckhead.
North Carolina’s consumer protection watchdog is getting reports of potential gas price gouging as the state’s gas stations report running low because of a leaking pipeline in Alabama.
While some gas prices have increased following the leak, which occurred September 9, some local gas station owners contribute the higher prices to customers panicking and not a supply shortage. “We’ve successfully weathered fuel shortages before and we will do it again”, Governor McCrory said. Alabama will also see an impact, though it could take long to show up at the state’s pumps.
Upon successful completion of testing, Colonial Pipeline will begin the process of tying the bypass segment into the main line [Line 1] and preparing for a safe restart. He added that prices have gone up “through the roof!”
Chattanooga gas prices rose an average of 4 cents a gallon more on Tuesday, according to the daily price survey of area stations by AAA.
The shortage is blamed on a pipeline rupture and leak of at least 252,000 gallons (954,000 liters) of gas in Alabama.
A spokesperson with Colonial Pipeline said Tuesday that Line 1 repairs are almost complete and the company aims to restart it on Wednesday.
Today’s national average price for regular unleaded gasoline is $2.21 per gallon, 3 cents more than last week and 8 cents more expensive than last month, according to AAA. It will, however, take a few days for the fuel supply to fully recover, Colonial said. South Carolina’s regular gas rose almost 4 cents from Monday to Tuesday, and almost 18 cents from a week ago.
The preliminary report does not identify the cause as the federal investigation continues.
The U.S. Transportation Department past year proposed new inspection requirements for pipelines in rural areas, including increased use of remote leak detection systems.
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He says it changes that much sometimes overnight.
