(GA Recorder) — The rush to fill up gas tanks after a cyberattack led Colonial Pipeline to abruptly shut down its operations has state and national leaders urging the public not to panic.
The Alpharetta-based company resumed operations Wednesday at 5 p.m. Still, the company says 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,” the company said in a statement. “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.”
The Alpharetta-based company, which supplies about 45% of the East Coast’s fuel, shut down its operations Friday following a ransomware attack.
During a press conference on Tuesday, Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm noted the more than 5,000-mile pipeline has never been shut down like this before.
“I want to be clear that these states who are impacted, even with the turning on of the pipeline system, they still may feel a supply crunch as Colonial fully resumes,” cautioned Granholm.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and other state officials joined the Biden administration in urging people not to stockpile fuel needlessly. Convenience store customers across Georgia were reporting fuel shortages by Monday evening, a problem that experts say is an overreaction to the situation.
Kemp issues state of emergency
The emerging crisis prompted Kemp to issue a state of emergency Tuesday and to temporarily suspend the state’s fuel taxes through Saturday as a way to help offset the rising price of gas. His executive order also prohibited price gouging and increased maximum weight load for fuel transportation.
Read Colonial Pipeline statement
The governor said the demand for fuel sharply increased as media coverage of the shutdown intensified early this week.
“We just need people to remain calm; just give us a few days,” Kemp said. “The company’s doing everything that they can to get the pipeline (running).”
“Much as there was no cause for, say, hoarding toilet paper at the beginning of the pandemic, there should be no cause for hoarding gasoline, especially in light of the fact that the pipeline should be substantially operational by the end of this week and over the weekend,” Granholm said.
“At the same time, it certainly is a reminder that we need to take a hard look at how we need to harden our necessary infrastructure, and that includes cyber threats,” she added.
Mayorkas said the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack is a “stark example” of the cybersecurity challenge facing the nation’s critical infrastructure that has been building for years.
“This threat is not imminent. It is upon us,” he said Tuesday.
The pipeline shutdown is likely contributing to higher prices at the pump. According to AAA Auto Club, by Wednesday, prices across Georgia rose an average of 24 cents per gallon. The average price for regular unleaded reached $2.95. The nationwide average was $3.00.
“This shutdown will have implications on both gasoline supply and prices, but the impact will vary regionally,” AAA spokeswoman Montrae Waiters said. “Areas including Mississippi, Tennessee, and the east coast from Georgia into Delaware are most likely to experience limited fuel availability and price increases, as early as this week.”
Angela Holland, president of the Georgia Association of Convenience Stores, also pinned the artificial demand for fuel on media reports about the Colonial Pipeline shutdown.
While a cyberattack is a new twist, she said the state has survived worse without panic at the pump. She pointed to 2016, when the fuel industry avoided any significant problems despite dealing with everything from major storms to a pipeline break.
Another major Georgia-based company, Plantation Pipeline, will continue sending fuel to some of the areas also served by Colonial, Holland said.
“We had four separate incidents within a span of eight weeks, and we didn’t see any widespread outages,” she said, referring to 2016. “It was all spotty shortages. There’s plenty of fuel. It’s just a matter of getting it to the market and meeting the demand.”
Georgia Recorder Deputy Editor Jill Nolin contributed to this report. This article has been updated.
