Close to 250,000 gallons spilled from the leak and prompted officials to issue a state of emergency in Shelby County, Ala. “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”. Deal’s declaration strictly addressed fuel drivers, who will now be able to drive for longer hours than normally allowed by the US Department of Transportation.
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The company first detected the spill a week ago on September 9 and said more than 250,000 gallons of gasoline spilled from a pipeline that connects refineries in Houston to the South and the eastern seaboard.
Colonial Pipeline provides gasoline for about 50 million people between Houston and New York City every day. People in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina and SC will see the biggest price increases and perhaps gas shortages, said Tom Kloza, chief analyst for the Oil Price Information Service. The second line is being used now to carry some gasoline that would have gone through the first line, but company officials have not said how much.
Chief Oil analyst Tom Kloza with Oil Price Information Service, explained to CNN Money that transporting gasoline by means other than the pipeline just costs more, and it is far less efficient. Georgia-based Colonial Pipeline said most of the spilled gasoline has been corralled in a retention pond, and it downplayed any threat to public safety. Already gas prices in Georgia are increasing.
All of that is to minimize disruptions in supply and possibly hold down price increases until the gasoline pipeline is repaired – possibly in the next week.
“They are saying the shortage is because of the leakage”, she said.
Motorists could pay more for gasoline in coming days, although experts say that any spike in service-station prices should only be temporary. It’s unclear when the spill actually started.
“The immediate concern is availability in these areas, but even after the pipeline is fully restored, you still have racks and terminals that are trying to beef up their inventory to pre-outage levels and that’s going to be a struggle”.
Gov. Bentley, however, addressed price gouging, writing, “I hereby place all persons on notice that it is unlawful for any person within the State of Alabama to impose unconscionable prices for the sale of any commodity during the period of a declared State of Emergency”.
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Colonial said it was making up some of the gasoline shortfall by using another pipeline that usually carries diesel and jet fuel. “For the most part, what we are going to see is a juggling of our supplies”, said Tamika Wright of AAA.
