Gas stations along the Southeast coast are seeing a surge in panic buying and long lines similar to that of hurricane season, due to the shutdown of the biggest oil pipeline in the United States. A ransomware attack shut down the Colonial Pipeline, a critical artery for gasoline, which was believed to be orchestrated by a Russia-based criminal group. The closure of the 5,500-mile Colonial Pipeline, which carries more than 100 million gallons of fuel from Texas to New Jersey each day, has stretched into its fifth day. The Alpharetta, a Georgia-based company suspended all operations after it was hit Friday. Americans took to social media to confirm that the gasoline issue wasn’t just local.
Colonial said Monday, May 10, it hopes to get most of its operations back online by the weekend, but what proves to be a costly effect will not limit the shortages and price hikes that they’re already facing. US gasoline demand jumped 20% on Monday compared with the prior week, according to GasBuddy, an app that tracks fuel prices and demand. The five states severely affected are Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia. The demand was up by a collective 40.1%, GasBuddy said. “I got scared that I could not go to work or take my daughters to school,” Florida resident Linderly Bedoya told CNN in an interview. “All the gas stations in my area were without gas and when I finally found one I had to stay an hour in line and I had to fill up with the premium unleaded.”
In Georgia, Governor Brian Kemp signed an executive order suspending the state’s gas tax to help drivers cope with higher prices caused by the Colonial Pipeline hack. Meanwhile, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency Monday evening temporarily suspending some of the fuel regulations in a bid to ensure adequate supply. Additionally, the Environmental Protection Agency issued an emergency fuel waiver aimed at easing fuel shortages caused by the Colonial Pipeline shutdown. EPA Administrator Michael Regan cited “extreme and unusual fuel supply circumstances” for waiving certain federal requirements for fuels sold in the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. The waiver will continue through May 18.
