Colonial has tied in a bypass connector that will move fuel around a segment of its line that sprung a leak September 9.
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Although company officials said the main gas line is expected to restart Wednesday, drivers in North Carolina are still facing problems at the pump.
AAA reported a gallon of regular unleaded gas Wednesday was $2.21 in the Cape Fear region – matching the national average and a penny lower than the state’s average price.
It will then take several days for the fuel delivery supply chain to return to normal.
Do you have community news or events? The company says spilled gasoline is being taken to the storage facility for storage. The average price per gallon today in North Carolina was $2.22.
According to a preliminary report, it wasn’t possible to immediately pinpoint the leak, partly because highly flammable benzene and gasoline vapors hung in the air for more than three days, preventing firefighters, company officials and anyone else from being near the site.
A leak from a major fuel pipeline in Alabama caused Colonial Pipeline to shut down a section of one of its pipelines last week that has spilled about 6,000 barrels of gasoline in Shelby County, AL.
According to forms, the company provided to Department of Transportation, Colonial has had 178 incidents between 2006 and August 2016.
The pipeline runs from Texas to New Jersey, supplying fuel to states in the Southeast and on the East Coast.
The Environmental Protection Agency fined Colonial $34 million in 2003 for gross negligence – at the time the largest civil penalty in EPA history – after it spilled nearly 1 million gallons of diesel in SC, polluting waterways in four states. Most of the pipeline was built in either the 1960s or 1970s, according to federal records. South Carolina’s regular gas rose almost 4 cents from Monday to Tuesday, and almost 18 cents from a week ago. The Columbia area saw prices rise about six cents since Monday.
North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory welcomed news that the line would likely restart on Wednesday. The company said it has 700 employees and contractors working on the site.
“Current sampling results indicate that the Peel Creek and the Cahaba River are now not impacted”, the statement said.
Larry Carr, 44, an Atlanta private contractor, was filling gasoline containers and piling them into the back of his Ford Explorer van just after topping up his tank at a station in the Grant Park neighborhood where it cost $2.49 for regular self-serve.
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“We’ve successfully weathered fuel shortages before and we will do it again”, he said.
