Pipeline firm expects to restart line Wednesday

“I’m pleased to report that Colonial Pipeline has now completed construction and positioning of the bypass pipeline”, Governor McCrory said.

The bypass segment has the same specifications of the main line in terms of pressure and capacity, but it’s overground instead of underground.

There have already been some spikes in fuel cost around the area. Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia also saw prices climb since Monday, AAA reported Tuesday. “It means we’ll get a lot of imported gas, but it won’t arrive until October 1”.

ATLANTA (AP) – Colonial Pipeline restarted the gasoline pipeline in Alabama that had been shut down because of a major leak, which caused shortages and surging fuel prices across the South.

“I tried getting gas yesterday and a lot of the stations had no gas at all, except diesel”, a Georgia resident said.

Hundreds of Colonial employees and contractors have been working around the clock to respond to the spill, but hazardous fumes from the spilled gasoline limited the response activities around the site of the leak.

While gas prices did see a surge in some areas, not every station in St. Clair followed that trend.

The Colonial Pipeline runs from Houston to NY to bring gasoline produced in Texas and Louisiana to much of the rest of the nation. The leak, which spilled between 252,000 gallons and 336,000 gallons of gasoline into a detention pond, was detected September 9.

Mitigating the supply disruption is steadily declining demand for gasoline as the summer driving season draws to a close and gasoline being shipped to the northeast by water and other pipelines, Kloza said.

The shortage is blamed on a rupture in the Colonial Pipeline, which pumps gas through 5,500 miles of pipe from Texas to New Jersey, supplying much of the East Coast.

But the high prices and spotty fuel supplies in the affected states could continue for a period. Price gouging is the act of charging excessive prices in a time of crisis.

In Robeson County, many gas stations had bags or “Out of Order” signs covering some or all of their pumps.

Attorney General Roy Cooper has issued subpoenas to five North Carolina gas stations as part of investigations into claims of price gouging, or the practice of raising prices during a crisis.