A main gas line is expected to restart Wednesday with a temporary bypass after a leak and spill in Alabama led to surging fuel prices and some gas shortages across the South, a Colonial Pipeline official said Tuesday.
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The Alpharetta, Ga. -based pipeline company has finished emergency construction of a 500-foot section of pipe to serving as a bypass for the leaking section that it expects to open Wednesday.
Colonial Pipeline will begin restarting its Line 1 today, September 21, following a leak that began earlier this month, causing hundreds of thousands of gallons of gasoline to flood remote parts of Alabama and Georgia.
The leak, discovered by a mining inspector who smelled a fuel odor in Helena, Ala., released about 6,000 barrels to 8,000 barrels (252,000 gallons to 336,000 gallons) of gasoline.
Colonial said it was working “around the clock” to fix the break and supplies have been delivered or are on their way to locations in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, and North Carolina. It will then take several days for the fuel delivery supply chain to return to normal.
The company has more than 700 employees and partners on site working to fix and restore the damaged line.
The escaped Spartanburg Co. inmate, Blake Rochester, 25, has been captured according to Cherokee Co. In about a week’s time, I think you’ll see (gas prices) plateau.
Fuel price-tracking service GasBuddy.com says unleaded prices are up 3 cents overnight in Johnson City with regular unleaded rising to $2.08 a gallon. Pat McCrory said it may take “several days for fuel delivery to return to normal in North Carolina”.
Gas prices rose almost 27 cents over the past week to average $2.36 in Georgia.
In the Charlottesville area, the average price per gallon of gas is now $2.02, while the average is $2.07 in Virginia and $2.21 across the United States.
The preliminary report does not identify the cause as the federal investigation continues.
The U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued a written approval for restart of the line late September 20. Colonial Pipeline has yet to determine what caused the leak near Birmingham, Alabama.
Colonial, the nation’s largest refined products system, has built a bypass line to resume full operations of Line 1.
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AAA reports Tuesday that Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia also saw prices climb since Monday.
