The timing of Clark’s fill up had nothing to do with news of the recent Colonial Pipeline gasoline leak that which has interrupted the normal flow of fuel in the pipeline that runs from refineries in Houston to Linden, New Jersey – crossing beneath Anderson County along the way. This week it spilled almost a quarter-million gallons of fuel in rural Shelby, Alabama.
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The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline jumped 6 cents overnight to $2.199 in Georgia and rose almost 5 cents to $2.063 in Tennessee, according to the AAA on Saturday.
The average price of a gallon of unleaded in Alabama went up 3 cents overnight.
Tucker adds that if the price increase comes, he will have to pass the costs along to his customers.
Colonial Pipeline Co. doesn’t expect to fully reopen its primary gasoline pipeline, which has spilled more than 250,000 gallons near Birmingham, until next week.
Bill Haslam issued an executive order Friday waiving hourly driving limits for fuel transporters to prevent fuel supply disruptions.
The effect should be minimal with the workaround solutions and the East Coast gas supply now being above the 5-year average, as long as the recovery doesn’t face any more setbacks.
Gasoline from the pipeline was discovered in a nearby mine retention pond, and three dead raccoons and a dead rabbit were found nearby.
Kay Hill, who was buying gas today in Clarksville, said she had seen prices climb within a short window of time on Friday, jumping from $1.99 a gallon to $2.19. And prices may keep going up until sometime next week. The pipeline has been shut down since Friday as workers seek to fix the leak. It’s not clear when the leak started.
The Governors of Alabama and Georgia have issued a state of emergency in an effort to effectively prevent price gouging at the pumps and also to allow for additional trucks to carry fuel.
It’s unclear when the line started leaking, but Colonial said in a statement that the leak was detected on September 9, and about 6,000 to 8,000 barrels of gasoline had been lost.
“Tennessee has other sources for fuel in addition to the Colonial Pipeline”, said Emily LeRoy, executive director of TFCA, in a news release.
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“What had seemed likely to be a short-lived disruption in an already well-supplied market may now cause localized disruptions in some eastern and southeastern states”, JBC Energy analysts said Friday in a research note.
