HELENA, Ala. -- The major gasoline pipeline feeding the Southeast and East Coast has shut down for the second time in the past two months after an explosion on Monday afternoon.
On Oct. 31, a nine-man contract crew was working on Line 1 of the Colonial Pipeline, in a stretch running through Shelby County in Alabama, when its track hoe hit the pipeline. This ignited gasoline and lit a fire that continues to burn, according to Colonial Pipeline Co., which owns and operates the pipeline.
Five workers had been injured and taken to the hospital, while one worker died at the scene, according to Colonial.
“Our deepest condolences go out tonight to the family and friends of the person who was lost today, and our thoughts and prayers are with those who were injured,” the Alpharetta, Ga.-based operator said in a statement.
The Colonial Pipeline moves gasoline, diesel and jet fuel more than 5,500 miles from the Gulf Coast to the New York Harbor area.
The following is the latest on the incident and the aftermath.
First responders and the Alabama Forestry responded to the incident site immediately. Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley shared via Twitter that crews had built an 8-foot-tall, 80-foot-long dirt dam to contain the burning fuel. The explosion had sparked some wildfires, burning 32 acres of land thus far because of dry conditions. Officials also evacuated a 3-mile area around the explosion site and imposed a temporary flight restriction in the area.
Colonial shut down its two main gasoline and distillate lines that run through Shelby County, and lines remained down as of the morning of Nov. 1. The site of this incident was several miles from the location of a leak that triggered a shutdown in early September, Colonial Pipeline officials said.
The aftereffects on fuel prices and supply are just beginning.
According to Reuters, U.S. gasoline futures leapt more than 11% on Tuesday, Nov. 1, on the news, as fears grew of fuel shortages on the East Coast.
Fuel suppliers on Oct. 31 had begun alerting wholesalers in South Carolina of allocations, Bloomberg reported. In a research note, Robert Campbell, head of oil products research at Energy Aspects Ltd., New York, said that because the southeastern United States and, ultimately, the East Coast, rely so heavily on supply from the Colonial, the longer the pipeline is down, “the more upward pressure will be placed on U.S. East Coast fuel prices, while downward pressure will be exerted on U.S. Gulf Coast product prices.”
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