Gov. Pat McCrory declares State of Emergency over gas shortage in NC
It looks like we’re back in the 1970s
Update, 10:52am: In response to the gas leak, the pipeline company has made repairs and expects to restart the main gas line on Wednesday.
Like many other states, North Carolina has suffered a major a gas shortage over the last week, leading Gov. Pat McCrory to activate the State Emergency Response Team. He addressed his plan in a statement released on Monday.
On September 9, Colonial Pipeline detected a rupture in their gas line that runs from New York to Houston. It’s estimated that they’ve lost hundreds of thousands of gas gallons just outside of Birmingham, Alabama. The pipeline supplies large portions of the East Coast with gasoline.
Students and residents of Chapel Hill have been feeling the effects of this shortage.
Junior Mel Fos only has five miles left in her gas tank, but she doesn’t know where to go to get gas.
She said: “It sucks because some stations actually do have gas, they’re just keeping it for maintenance reasons. They don’t get rid of all the gas or else they have to re-prime the tank all over again, which costs a ton of money.”
The massive line outside of a Durham gas station Monday
Jenny Goodwin, also a junior, drove to Chapel Hill from Greenville, NC, and couldn’t find gas anywhere.
“I stopped at five gas stations on the way home from Greenville and I had to wait for half an hour with my car off because I had so little gas.”
Brenna Elmore, a junior, tried multiple stations in the Raleigh/Durham area before finding gas.
“I had to wait in line for about 15 minutes and it was $2.19 a gallon, but I filled up my tank. Sometimes they only let you have a few gallons, so it was super lucky that place not only had gas left, but let us take it all.”
Recent prices in the Triangle area are ranging from $2.08 to $2.28 per gallon. The gas crisis is expected to stabilize once the gas begins “flowing freely” again.