On Sept. 14, Haley issued her first executive order related to the pipeline issues, waiving hours of service requirements for fuel trucks and complying with states of emergency in Alabama and Georgia.
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States of emergency have been declared in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia with prices jumping as much 16 cents in Georgia and and 10 cents in Tennessee in the last week, according to Auto Club.
In nearly a panic and afraid the gas supply will run out, people are filling up not only their vehicles, but also gas cans and other containers.
Then there are shortages, with many gas stations completely out of unleaded gas.
“People are going to be back on bicycles, scooters and mopeds and stuff”, said Fred Robinson, who was gassing up at another station in Jackson.
“We were out, so we said, let’s gas up”, he said. The average gas price in the area had zoomed to $2.46, 30 cents higher than a week earlier.
A gas station displays a sign informing customers it is out of certain grades of gasoline in Atlanta, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016.
North Carolina’s average price of gasoline is now $2.16, up from last week’s average of $2.05. Fuel supplies in at least five states including Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee are threatened by the spill.
Some service stations across the state reported they’ve run out of gasoline.
“I spoke to my [driver] this morning, and they said it looks like, before it eases, it may take two more weeks”, Budhani said on Monday.
Another ominous sign: Only 22 gas stations in Valdosta were listed by gasbuddy as offering fuel for less than $2 a gallon, down from more than 60 in recent weeks. The company doesn’t know when the spill started.
In McCrory’s statement Sunday, he said that Colonial indicated the bypass line would be ready by mid to late week – and that an extra day would be needed for testing before gas started flowing.
Colonial Pipeline says gas is on the way to SC, NC and Georgia in a Facebook post. Townsend says price variation is not always price gouging.
He said his store ran out of gas a few times while dealing with the shortage, in part due to an interrupted delivery schedule.
Quik Trip spokesman Mike Thornbrugh said several stations in SC were seeing outages.
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Deal spokeswoman Jen Talaber Ryan said the governor has “done everything possible” to ease concerns about fuel shortages, including getting a federal waiver to give commercial truck drivers more leeway to haul motor fuel on Georgia’s highways this week.
