Free Republic

Colonial Pipeline initiated the restart of pipeline operations today at approximately 5 p.m. ET. Following this restart, it will take several days for the product delivery supply chain to return to normal. Some markets served by Colonial Pipeline may experience, or continue to experience, intermittent service interruptions during the start-up period. Colonial will move as much gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel as is safely possible and will continue to do so until markets return to normal. As we initiate our return to service, our primary focus remains safety. As part of this startup process, Colonial will conduct a comprehensive series...

Frustrations were high on Tuesday as people rushed to gas stations to top off their tanks amid fears of a fuel shortage caused by the shutdown of a major pipeline. One man caught an intense altercation on camera at a Marathon gas station in Knightdale. Police charged Alexus Orianna Harris, 25, with simple assault and Matthew James-stark Artero, 47, with simple assault and damage to property. A man who wanted to be identified only as Rashaad said he was in line for gas when he saw a fight break out between a man and woman at one of the pumps....

Speaking to reporters at the White House Tuesday afternoon, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm admitted that pipelines are the safest way to transport fuel. Her comments come as 17 states face a major gas shortage due to a cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline system and four months after President Joe Biden stopped construction on the Keystone XL pipeline. "Can you tell us what is the feasibility of using rail cars to transport fuel into the affected areas? I know that's being looked at," a reporter asked. "The DOT [Department of Transportation] is looking at that, and so we'll have to wait...

"If during tomorrow they do not raise the price, we will release all the data," the group added, the posts read. Chats appear to show the police department making a final offer of "$100,000 to prevent the release of stolen data." "This is unacceptable from our side," the ransomware actor responds. The Metropolitan Police Department did not respond to a CNN request for comment. Ransomware groups do not typically post transcripts of the negotiations, according to Brett Callow, a threat analyst at the security firm Emsisoft, who said it's unclear why they chose to do so in this case. "MPD...

Gas stations from Florida to Virginia ran dry, and prices at the pump skyrocketed late Tuesday, as the hack attack on the biggest U.S. fuel pipeline extends into the fifth day. On Tuesday evening, 17 states and Washington, DC declared emergency declarations to address fuel shortages. The emergency declaration covers Alabama, Arkansas, D.C., Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. The Biden administration projected that the Colonial Pipeline would restart by the weekend and urged drivers not to panic hoard fuel. “We are asking people not to...

What is it about low gas prices that Democrats don’t like? On his first day in office Biden cancelled the Keystone XL pipeline and gas prices went up. A (likely Russian) group calling itself DarkSide hacked the Colonial pipeline, responsible for bringing 45% of fuel for the east coast, last week and prices went up. Now Michigan’s Dem. Governor Whitmer, (Hitmer to many), brilliantly threatened to close down a Canadian pipeline, owned by the Enbridge company, that runs through Michigan’s Straits of Mackinac, (pronounced Mack-in-awe). Just in time for summer. The first summer we’ve had in two years. This seems...

Governor Ron DeSantis Tuesday evening declared a state of emergency over Florida’s gas shortage after “hackers” caused the Colonial Pipeline to shut down.DeSantis said the state’s Attorney General is on the lookout for price gouging.According to Fox 13, between 1/3 and 1/2 of gas stations in Florida are out of gas.Long lines and gas shortages are being reported in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.Panic buying Escambia County caused gas prices to surge:SKY HIGH GAS PRICES: We’ve received calls into the @weartv newsroom about this #gas station in #EscambiaCounty selling regular gas for $4.29/gallon. Within a minute of our...

CHAMBLEE, Ga. - More than 1,000 gas stations in the Southeast reported running out of fuel, primarily because of what analysts say is unwarranted panic-buying among drivers, as the shutdown of a major pipeline by a gang of hackers entered its fifth day Tuesday. Government officials acted swiftly to waive safety and environmental rules to speed the delivery of fuel by truck, ship or rail to motorists and airports, even as they sought to assure the public that there was no cause for alarm. Sponsored Links Video from our partners Brought to you by Taboola Forget the 30yr mortgage if...

The Biden administration said Tuesday it is moving to temporarily waive a law that requires goods shipped between U.S. ports to be transported on U.S.-owned and operated vessels. The move over the Jones Act comes in response to the ransomware attack that led to a shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline, a critical artery supplying fuels to the East Coast. The U.S. Department of Transportation said in a statement that it has "started the work needed to enable consideration of a temporary and targeted waiver of the Jones Act," and that it is surveying qualified vessels that can carry petroleum products...

The outage on the Colonial Pipeline could be exacerbated by a Michigan state order forcing Enbridge Inc.’s Line 5 pipeline — supplying oil to Michigan, Ohio, Ontario and Pennsylvania refineries — to shut down on Wednesday, which could further strain U.S. oil supply. Calgary-based Enbridge has vowed to defy the order and continue shipping oil through the line until forced to close by a court. Analysts believe shutting down Line 5 could cause higher fuel and propane prices in affected areas in the U.S. Midwest and Central Canada as well as potentially thousands of layoffs.

Gas stations across the East Coast are starting to run out of fuel as one of the biggest petroleum pipelines fights to recover from a cyberattack. Specific gas stations ranging from Virginia to Florida to Alabama are reported to have run out of gas, and drivers have been surprised to find long lines or no service available. The outages come as people are rushing to the pumps to fill up, causing a spike in gasoline demand. In five states alone — Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia — gasoline demand rose more than 40% on Monday, said GasBuddy...

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said Monday on MSNBC’s “Deadline” that President Joe Biden’s roughly $2 trillion plan for the nation’s infrastructure was needed for “national security.” Referencing a cyber attack shutting down the Colonial Pipeline, anchor Nicolle Wallace said, “I wonder if you can tell us how the proposed infrastructure bill would have protected this pipeline from a cyber attack and whether that is central to all those things that I know some of your conservatives make fun of, things that aren’t actually tangible roads and bridges.”

As of Monday night, a small number of gas stations in both Virginia and North Caroline have run out of gas. According to Patrick De Haan, a senior petroleum analyst with GasBuddy, 6.35 percent of gas stations in Virginia were without gas as of 9 p.m. on Monday. According to GasBuddy’s outage tracker, numerous gas stations in the Tidewater region are without fuel and power. The longer the pipeline is offline, the larger the impact on the east coast, according to AAA. However, foreign gasoline imports and other pipelines can supplement Northeastern supply. Other areas are expected to see little...

A group of cybercriminals allegedly responsible for the ransomware attack that shut the largest fuel pipeline in the United States said on Monday it only wants to make money, not disrupt society, as Washington scrambled to help restore the network....The FBI on Monday pinned the blame on the cyber group DarkSide. A statement in the group’s name said “our goal is to make money, and not creating problems for society.” It's statement did not mention Colonial Pipeline by name.

US fuel prices are likely to hit their highest level in seven years after hackers shut down the largest oil pipeline in the US. Before the pipeline hack, average gas prices in the US clocked in at $2.96 per gallon on Friday. Prices were not expected to see another significant spike until after Memorial Day, when travel is expected to push demand even higher at the end of the month, but the oil pipeline hack has already bumped prices up as much as 4.2% on Monday morning. The 5,500-mile pipeline was shut down on Saturday after its operator, Colonial Pipeline,...

The US government declared a state of emergency late on Sunday, lifting limits on the transport of fuels in a bid to keep gas supply lines open after the continued shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline. “This Declaration addresses the emergency conditions creating a need for immediate transportation of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and other refined petroleum products and provides necessary relief,” the Department of Transportation said. White House Press Sec Jen Psaki added that “as the Administration works to mitigate potential disruptions to supply as a result of the Colonial Pipeline incident, @USDOT is taking action today to allow flexibility...

The DarkSide hacker gang that is responsible for the devastating Colonial Pipeline attack this weekend is a relatively new group, but cybersecurity analysts already know enough about them to determine just how dangerous they are. According to Boston-based Cybereason, DarkSide is an organized group of hackers set up along the “ransomware as a service” business model, meaning the DarkSide hackers develop and market ransomware hacking tools, and sell them to other criminals who then carry out attacks. Think of it as the evil twin of a Silicon Valley software start-up. Bloomberg first reported that DarkSide may be involved in the...

The U.S. government and the top U.S. fuel pipeline operator on Monday worked to secure the network that transports nearly half of the East Coast's supplies as a shutdown to halt a ransomware cyberattack entered its fourth day. The attack on Colonial Pipeline last week was one of the most disruptive digital ransom schemes ever reported and has sent shockwaves across the industry. The resulting shutdown has disrupted fuel supply across the eastern United States, triggered isolated sales restrictions at retail pumps and pushed benchmark gasoline prices to a three-year high. .... The southeastern United States would likely be the...

ATLANTA - Days after an Alpharetta-based energy company reported a ransomware attack and halted its operations amid an investigation, it's still unclear how consumers will be affected and if a fuel shortage on the East Coast is imminent. Colonial Pipeline moves gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and home heating oil from refineries primarily located on the Gulf Coast through pipelines running from Texas to New Jersey. It is a major supplier of fuel and delivers an estimated 45% of all fuel consumed on the East Coast. The Georgia-based company said it transports more than 100 million gallons of fuel daily, through...

A cyberattack forced the shutdown of one of the largest pipelines in the United States, in what appeared to be a significant attempt to disrupt vulnerable energy infrastructure. The pipeline carries refined gasoline and jet fuel up the East Coast from Texas to New York. The operator of the system, Colonial Pipeline, said in a statement late Friday that it had shut down its 5,500 miles of pipeline, which it says carries 45 percent of the East Coast’s fuel supplies, in an effort to contain the attack on its computer networks. Earlier Friday, there were disruptions along the pipeline, but...