Posted on 09/18/2016 5:43:49 PM PDT by servo1969
On the morning of Sept. 9, an inspector with the Alabama Surface Mining Commission was performing a routine monthly check of an old coal mine in Shelby County when he noticed "a strong odor of gasoline" as well as a sheen on the surface of one of the retention ponds.
The gasoline he was smelling came from Colonial Pipeline's Line 1, an underground pipeline three feet in diameter that normally pushes 1.3 million barrels of gasoline per day from refineries in Houston to distribution centers across the Southeast and along the eastern seaboard.
That 36-inch line, built in 1963, has been estimated to supply the east coast of the United States with up to 40 percent of its gasoline supply. Colonial Pipeline initiated a shutdown of Line 1 within 20 minutes of receiving the report about a potential leak.
That section of pipeline remains closed. Eight days later, official estimates climbed to 336,000 gallons of lost gasoline. More than 700 people were working around the clock to dig up the pipe, plug the leak, clean up the old mining property south of Birmingham and restore supply.
With the flow of gasoline interrupted, the governors of six states have declared a state of emergency to allow truck drivers to work longer shifts to head off shortages at the pumps.
Gasoline is now being shipped by alternate routes throughout the southeast. Alternate pipelines are being used, and gasoline is even being shipped by tanker ship from Houston to New York.
Colonial announced Saturday the company will construct a temporary pipeline to bypass the spill site in hopes of restoring gasoline flows more quickly. No timetable was given for completing the bypass line."
(Excerpt) Read more at al.com ...
We left church today in North Georgia and found out between there and Western North Carolina the gas stations were either closed or limited, and only taking cash........the one place we found for gas was only selling the expensive Super Premium
This spill validates their concern
I live in Mobile. Didn’t get out today and don’t know the impact down here but right now I’m glad I drive a diesel.
FYI.
Alabama has the largest number of species of fresh water fish than anywhere else in the world.
So we paid $2.90 per gallon instead of last week’s $1.96. :(
This is going to affect truckers....
Well yes an no...the pipeline was built in 1962 so its over 50 years since a spill occurred...pipelines do wear out.
We lost of 1/4 mil gallons of gas. That’s just a few drops in the of this scheme of things. I suspect we use mega, mega, millions everyday.
Is this just histrionics? And a good reason to jack up prices.
I can understand it down south and the immediate area but other than that, it just doesn’t make sense.
I’m not far from you, just northeast of Stokesdale. I went on GasBuddy Friday night, cheapest price was $2.09 at Eagle Express on Highway 220. Went there, filled up, no problems, no lines. They’ve bagged the pumps as of today, no gas. The two stations in the middle of Stokesdale raised their price to $2.59 yesterday. One is now out of gas, the other had lines this afternoon.
I went to visit my mom today over in Advance, coming in I was surprised to see no problems, price still $2.09, even the Sheetz was open and busy at the pumps. Sheetz has for some reason been hit very hard by this, I didn’t expect to see the pumps open there.
Leaving at 7:00 PM was a different story, pumps bagged at Sheetz, lines at other stations, price had risen to $2.29 so it spread to there over the course of an afternoon.
Suspect it’s going to be a long week in this area for people who didn’t gas up or who run through more than a tank in a week.
It’s not the amount of gas that was lost, it’s the fact that the pipeline is not functioning as a result of the break. No gas is flowing and won’t be until they can fix it.
I went to the Wikipedia page for Colonial Pipeline, there was a much larger gas spill due to a ruptured pipeline in I believe 1996, I don’t recall gas shortages and lines here from that. Really the only previous time in recent decades this has happened was due to a hurricane, was it Ike?
Price on the TN/AL border up 50 cents and more since Thursday. Regular is sold out everywhere and some stations completely sold out.
Getting all in a ruckus ain’t going to get it fix faster.
Sometimes I think people believe the pipeline guys are taking their time on this. When in reality I am willing to bet people are working their butts off 24/7 until it’s fixed.
Here in North Texas I payed $1.61 @ Kroger on Friday. Less gas up East means more gas here.
Got it, Thank.
How long and how did it happen?
That means we pay big time.
It all depends on where in the pipeline system a leak is, some places they may be able to go around... this one appears to be close to the source, so they don’t have a workaround.
Nope.
A leak and explosion in Maryland in 1970.
A 500,000 gallon leak in South Carolina, 1991.
A leak in Herndon, VA in 1993.
A 900,000 gallon leak in South Carolina in 1996.
Colonial also lost a bunch of pipelines in Houston in 1994, but that really wasn't their fault - an unusual flood event caused the failures at the San Jacinto River.
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