Last night, Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall and National Economic Council Director Brian Deese convened the inter-agency principals leading the administration’s whole of government response to the Colonial Pipeline incident.
Share:
A growing number of gas stations along the East Coast are without fuel as nervous drivers aggressively fill up their tanks following a ransomware attack that shut down the Colonial Pipeline, a critical artery for gasoline. The panic-buying threatens to exacerbate the supply shock.
As of 9 pm ET Tuesday, 12.3% of gas stations in North Carolina and 8.6% in Virginia didn’t have gasoline, according to outage figures reported by GasBuddy, an app that tracks fuel prices and demand. The Virginia figure was up from 7.7% at 4p ET, while North Carolina was up from 8.5% previously.
Rising outages are also being reported at gas stations in Georgia (8.0%), Florida (3.0%), and South Carolina (5.9%), according to GasBuddy, which collects user reports and shares the information with the government during emergencies.
Share
Source: AP Photo/David Goldman
Former White House Economic Advisor Larry Kudlow is warning if the Colonial Pipeline system isn t back up by Friday, all bloody hell will break loose.
Larry Kudlow: If Continental can t get back into business by Friday, experts tell me all bloody hell is gonna break loose. You re talking about the electric grid, no supplies in gasoline stations, schools, banks, law firms & office bldgs. They basically have until Friday. ?? pic.twitter.com/T94cmiBzr8 Scott Morefield (@SKMorefield) May 12, 2021
As a result of a Russian-backed cyberattack on Colonial, gas shortages and long lines are prevalent in nearly two dozen states. In Atlanta, more than half of the gas stations are empty. The same situation is playing out in Charlotte.
Virginia, Georgia, Florida Governors Declare States of Emergency After Colonial Pipeline Hack
The moves come after North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency on Monday.
Gas stations in multiple states across the country began running dry and gasoline prices rose on Tuesday, after a fuel pipeline halted operations for days following the attack by hackers. Motorists have been panic buying since the May 7 ransomware attack, which effectively restricted access to computer systems while demanding payments to release them.
The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday issued temporary waivers of certain fuel standards to increase the supply of gasoline in areas whose reformulated gasoline has been impacted by the shutdown. In particular, it waived the federal Reid vapor pressure requirements for fuel sold in Reformulated Gasoline areas of District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. The waiver will continue through May 18.
U.S. considering Jones Act waiver after pipeline hack - Transportation Department
By Doina Chiacu and David Shepardson
Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Transportation Department said on Tuesday it was evaluating a temporary waiver of the Jones Act to ensure sufficient gasoline supply to some U.S. states after the ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline.
The Jones Act requires goods moved between U.S. ports to be carried by ships built domestically and staffed by U.S. crews. The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has started the work needed to enable consideration of a temporary and targeted waiver of the Jones Act, the department said, as it and other agencies took new steps to ease reported fuel shortages.