York, Chester and Lancaster stations still going dry, but a few sites had gas Wednesday
A new report released Tuesday says 42% of stations in South Carolina are experiencing fuel outages; those outages continue to be felt in York, Chester and Lancaster counties as gas stations go dry.
The report was published by GasBuddy, which used crowdsourced data from gas stations across the country to report outages in areas most effected by the temporary shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline.
South Carolina is currently tied with Georgia for the most gas stations experiencing outages.
The Herald surveyed gas stations in all three counties. Out of eight stations in York County, none had regular gas; two still had diesel fuel.
Among 11 stations in Chester County, only the BP on Commerce Drive had both regular gas and diesel; three stations still had diesel in supply.
Out of 10 in Lancaster County, only the BP on Flat Creek Road had regular gas and three were offering diesel.
“We expected that stations would have low availabilty this week, but in the Carolinas and Georgia, it is happening sooner because of panic buying,” said Tiffany Wright, representative for the American Automobile Association Carolinas.
“Stations are being refeuled as soon as possible now. We will know more once we have a date for the pipeline restart,” she said. Colonial has told AAA they will have an announcement on restart by the end of today.
A press release from the Colonial Pipeline late Tuesday said the company “continues to make forward progress in our around-the-clock efforts to return our system to service, with additional laterals operating manually to deliver existing inventories to markets along the pipeline. Markets experiencing supply constraints and/or not serviced by other fuel delivery systems are being prioritized.”
Colonial is working with the Department of Energy to “evaluate market conditions to support this prioritization,” the release said.
Colonial has worked with shippers to bring almost 41 million gallons to the markets most effected, including Charlotte, N.C.
Officials have warned the public not to panic and that shortages should be remedied by the end of the week.
“My office has been in constant contact with the Office of Regulatory Staff regarding the temporary shutdown... we stand ready to take any additional action that may be necessary,” South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster tweeted Monday. “Because our state is currently under a state of emergency, transportation waivers and price gouging laws are in effect to facilitate fuel delivery and protect consumers.
“There is no need to rush to top off your gas tanks or hoard gas. The pipeline is expected to resume operations by the end of the week.”
There is not a true shortage, just a crunch in gas delivery, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a briefing Tuesday. North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Southern Virginia are experiencing the worst interruptions because they typically rely on Colonial for fuel, she said.
A statement from the Department of Energy Monday said that Granholm has spoken with staff of McMaster as it works to resolve the shutdown.
“The Department of Energy will continue efforts to coordinate with partners throughout the federal government, industry and states/local governments to support respons efforts,” the statement said.
Got gas available?
If your gas station is still offering regular gasoline, please contact tperkins@heraldonline.com and we’ll add your site to our list.
This story was originally published May 12, 2021 at 2:47 PM.
