Colonial Pipeline shuts vital gasoline pipeline because of a leak in Georgia

(CNN) — The Colonial Pipeline has temporarily shut its main gasoline line – America’s largest fuel pipeline – because of leak in Georgia, the pipeline’s operator and local officials said.

Line 1 of the 5,500-mile Colonial Pipeline had a “gasoline release,” according to Stephen Dooley, Paulding County Director of Emergency Management. Although Dooley said Colonial told him the leak was “not an emergency event,” the pipeline has been shut down as the company works on repairs. At the “release” site — at Peg Cole Ridge Trail in Villa Rica, Georgia – Dooley said a number of Colonial Pipeline vehicles were present as employees tried to fix the leak.

The Colonial Pipeline is one of the most important pieces of energy infrastructure in the United States, providing nearly half the gasoline and diesel fuel consumed by the East Coast. The impacted pipeline, Line 1, is a vital part of the biggest pipeline system in the United States and carries 1.5 million barrels of fuel per day from Texas into North Carolina.

“Colonial Pipeline is responding to a report of a potential gasoline release on our right of way in Paulding County, Ga.,” Colonial Pipeline Company spokesperson David Conti said in a statement to CNN. “We have temporarily shut down Line 1, crews are on scene coordinating response efforts, and we have made all required notifications.”

There is no timetable at this point for when Line 1 will be restarted, the Colonial Pipeline spokesperson told CNN.

Sara Lips, spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division, said the agency was first notified of the potential leak on Monday evening.

“We are currently investigating the leak along with other federal and local officials,” Lips said.

However, Dooly and the Paulding County Fire Department tells CNN they were only made aware of the leak on Tuesday afternoon, when reporters began calling them after Colonial sent out a press release. CNN has reached out to Colonial Pipeline about why the County was never notified, but did not immediately receive a response. CNN also reached out to the Environmental Protection Agency but has not yet received a response.

Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said the shutdown is unlikely to cause problems if it only lasts a few days because demand is weak during this time of the year and there is ample storage.

“If it goes beyond three to five days, that would be problematic,” De Haan said.

De Haan said that roughly 90% of the gas station outages during the 2021 Colonial Pipeline shutdown were caused by panic-buying, not the pipeline disruption itself.

“If people rush out to fill their tanks, they might end up creating more of a situation,” he said.

A cyberattack caused a crippling six-day shutdown in 2021 that sparked panic-buying and hoarding at gas stations in the Southeast.

The-CNN-Wire
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