Deadly Colonial Pipeline explosion may impact gas prices

To ease an expected shortage, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal waived regulations on fuel truck drivers over the next two weeks that normally limit the number of hours they are allowed to drive.

Back then, the restart of the line to the East Coast was postponed past its original stated restart, sparking concerns over the regular supply of the fuel for 50 million people in the eastern U.S. None of the other Colonial owners are responsible for the explosion that killed one and injured at least five.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration among other United States agencies was investigating Monday’s incident as well as the one in September.

Photographer Brynn Anderson said the blackened earth and a large area of charred trees are surrounded by other trees just beyond the burned area that are awash in fall colors, a stark contrast.

Colonial Pipeline shut down its two main lines, which feed gasoline, diesel and jet fuel to markets in the East.

The shutdown comes mere weeks after the company’s biggest gasoline spill in almost two decades shut the same line for 12 days, according to a release from Colonial on Tuesday.

Although the pipeline was fixed on September 20, about 11 days after the pipeline’s shut down, normalized prices and supplies have only recently returned to western North Carolina.

However spot prices retreated off that high after Colonial put out an updated statement saying that it only expects the gas line to be down for the remainder of the week.

But as the AJC previously reported, the 500-mile pipeline was never built because its shipping customers were unwilling to commit to the $1 billion project, which would have increased capacity by about 30 percent.

Eddie Moore and his wife were at home in their rural house a few miles from the site of Monday’s blast when they heard loud, sharp sounds in the distance.

“He was afraid it was a lot closer than where it actually was”, Chatman said. It exploded when contractors were attempting to flush one of the pipes, severely burning seven workers.

Not two months after a gasoline pipeline leak cut off gas supplies to the Southeast for several weeks, a gas line explosion Monday near Helena, Ala., has caused Colonial Pipeline to shut off both of its main lines.

“At this time, we anticipate Line 1 remaining down for the remainder of this week”.

When the last disruption happened, it took no more than three or four days for the gas shortage to show up at North Carolina service stations, said Tiffany Wright, public relations manager for AAA Carolinas out of Charlotte. It said it hopes to restart the line Saturday but it cautioned its projection could change when it has additional information from the site. It shutdown its two main lines-referred to as Line 1 and Line 2-as a result.

Colonial Pipeline was forced to shut down a pipeline in September due to a leak, which caused fuel prices to increase throughout the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, AAA said. A crew of nine people was working on the pipeline before the explosion, L.E. Bell Construction confirmed with WBRC News in Birmingham, AL.