East Coast faces Gas Shortages After Pipeline Leak

CNN Money

A leak has caused the closure of a crucial pipeline that carries gasoline to the eastern United States, a disruption that threatens to drive up prices and leave service stations without fuel to sell.

A major pipeline running between Texas and NY has been closed since September 9. The leak is in Shelby County, AL.

The governors of Alabama and Georgia have already declared states of emergency. And the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has sought to ease supply shortages by relaxing limits on the blend of gasoline that can be used across 18 counties in Georgia and Tennessee.

Twitter: Gas Buddy Guy, Patrick DeHaan

#GasPrices may rise 5-15c in GA, NC, TN, VA and 10-20c in SC over the next week due to supply/pipeline outage. Some stations may run out.

Mansfield oil has told it's customers to conserve fuel.

The company said it was treating the situation "with the same importance and urgency as a natural disaster."

This pipeline provides gasoline to about 50 million people. It will take at least a week to repair from today.

a reply to: reldra

I was just talking about this on Facebook and was about to bring it over here. Speculation there tends to lean more towards someone or some group sabotaging it to prove a point regarding the NDaP. I am a skeptic about that, given that entire community is about being one with nature. Not destroying it to prove a point.

Read it wrong.


Nope i did not. Just in time for the holidays. Should see the effects in 3 to 6 weeks. I expect food prices to go up as well. Bloody shame.

a reply to: reldra

Why am I not surprised CNN is being overdramatic about this?

The executive orders will allow fuel delivery truck drivers in each state to work longer shifts and exceed maximum hour limits established by the U.S. Department of Transportation in order to prevent gasoline outages.

Colonial operates a second pipeline, Line 2, parallel to the damaged line that typically carries jet fuel, diesel or other non-gasoline products like home heating oil. According to Colonial's response information site, Line 2 is now transporting gasoline from Houston as far as western Alabama to alleviate supply concerns there.

U.S. EPA personnel at the site of the spill in Shelby County say local residents are not in danger, and the spilled gasoline appears to be contained at the site and unlikely to enter the nearby Cahaba River, which is home to a number of endangered species and other sensitive wildlife.

source

Fuel shippers have also begun to implement contingency plans to further mitigate potential disruption to their operations. For example, other segments of the fuel delivery system are executing contingency plans, such as dispatching waterborne cargoes from the Gulf Coast to markets along the eastern seaboard. Also, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an official waiver for federal low volatility requirements under the Clean Air Act for certain markets in the southeast in an effort to further mitigate potential supply disruptions. Additionally, the Governor of the state of Georgia has issued an Executive Order for the purpose of suspending the federal rules and regulations that limit the hours operators of commercial vehicles may drive, in order to ensure the uninterrupted supply of gasoline throughout Georgia. Each of these measures has been taken to help the market adjust to alternate sources of supply.

source

a reply to: reldra

Twitter: Gas Buddy Guy, Patrick DeHaan


#GasPrices may rise 5-15c in GA, NC, TN, VA and 10-20c in SC over the next week due to supply/pipeline outage. Some stations may run out.

The prices in those States HAVE been about 20-30 cents a gallon lower than what is "our normal" north of the Mason-Dixon line so this brings them into parity with us finally. It will be shocking for them. Because we switch over to winter gas our prices were going to go up anyway, so unless we hit $3 a gallon? don't know that this will affect us locally.

How did the leak even occur? Are there any mentions of that?

originally posted by: TheGlitchyNinja
a reply to: reldra

I was just talking about this on Facebook and was about to bring it over here. Speculation there tends to lean more towards someone or some group sabotaging it to prove a point regarding the NDaP. I am a skeptic about that, given that entire community is about being one with nature. Not destroying it to prove a point.

I doubt it is sabotage. Probably corrosion.

a reply to: Vector99

CNN wasn't being over dramatic. Your first source leads to a title on another site saying a state of emergency was declared on one of the states.

They have put a 25 gallon limit on gas here in my area and people are flipping out! My truck holds 22 gallons. Looks like I'm off to the pumps. Wish me luck....

a reply to: Doodle19815

Welcome back to 1973.

a reply to: Phage

Does that mean I should get stamps or something? I WANT my stamps.

a reply to: Doodle19815

No stamps.
But if the last number of your plates is odd you can only buy gas on odd numbered days. And only 20 gallons.

Should get interesting if a hurricane or storm blows up the east coast soon. And would you look at that Karl just might do that next week.

33°27'14.52"N , 87° 2'45.46"W

Look up the line a few hundred yards...

Might be a different pipe line this one starts or goes underground at

33°26'25.65"N 87° 7'25.28"W

Look at the rust on the top of this storage tank!

33°21'16.85"N 86°57'48.24"W

All the infrastructure in this area is real old.

Only map I could find of a pipeline that exploded, this one is natural gas.

originally posted by: reldra
a reply to: Vector99

CNN wasn't being over dramatic. Your first source leads to a title on another site saying a state of emergency was declared on one of the states.

When you need to circumvent regulations set in place, you have to have an emergency. They wouldn't have been able to get approval for bypassing DOT regulations regarding transporting HAZMAT otherwise.

The scary part is a fatigued driver with 4.5 tons of a highly volatile substance in tow.

a reply to: Phage

lol what if your plate ends in a letter?

a reply to: Vector99

No gas for you!

Yeah but I hear solar and wind spills cost more to clean up.

a reply to: Kali74

Skin cancer and hurricane devastations are real. Like really for real

a reply to: Vector99
Letter?
Like the CIA?