Drivers across Nashville are facing empty pumps and long lines, following the cyberattack-related shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline. Local gas stations and federal agencies attribute the problem to panic buying rather than a shortage of gasoline.
“Let me emphasize that 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,” said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm during Tuesday’s White House press briefing.
The Colonial Pipeline accounts for the transportation of about 45% of fuel the East Coast uses for driving and flying. The FBI confirmed May 10 that “Darkside ransomware” was responsible for the compromise of the Pipeline networks.
The resulting gas outages hit all the way from Texas to the Mid-Atlantic states and then up to parts of the East Coast. Nashville and the rest of Tennessee are affected by the shortage.
Interestingly, many gas stations in Nashville told customers they were down to just premium gasoline on Wednesday afternoon. By Thursday, at least one gas station in Brentwood, just south of Nashville, told customers that premium and mid-grade were gone, but regular had been restocked.
CBS News has reported that Colonial Pipeline paid millions in ransom to the hackers whose cyberattack caused the shutdown. Bloomberg News was reporting Thursday afternoon that the figure is $5 million, though CBS hasn’t reported that.
Operations were restarted on the pipeline Wednesday, though it is expected to take up to a week to get things back to normal, according to national news reports.
Gasoline costs rose considerably during the shutdown, but are expected to go back down … until Memorial Day Weekend when historically gas prices increase because of demand.
The company that runs the pipeline told Reuters it expects operations to be “substantially” restored by the end of the week.
Lumination will continue to update you on the shortage and its impact on Nashville