Gas to start flowing in pipeline bypass

Latest developments

Gasoline should start flowing through a bypass around an Alabama pipeline leak as soon as Wednesday, but it will be “several days” before gas availability returns to normal in metro Atlanta, the pipeline operator said.

Colonial Pipeline said Tuesday it had finished construction of the 500-foot bypass at the work site near Birmingham and was testing the system. Fuel deliveries through the 3-foot-diameter line will start Wednesday barring any problems, it said.

The leak and resulting disruptions in supply have bedeviled motorists for days in metro Atlanta and other parts of the South. Sporadic outages have meant longer than usual lines at some stores in the region and dry pumps at others.

After several days of gains, prices flattened on Tuesday. The average price in metro Atlanta rose only three-tenths of a cent from the previous day, said Gregg Laskoski, a senior petroleum analyst for price-tracking website GasBuddy.

“With the rate of increase slowing down, it suggests more fuel is being brought to the end users,” Laskoski said.

The average price for unleaded in metro Atlanta was $2.51 Tuesday afternoon, up from $2.16 a week ago, according to GasBuddy. The national price of a gallon of unleaded is $2.21, according to AAA.

Some stations had supplies of regular, but not higher-octane fuels.

"When Line 1 restarts, it will take several days for the fuel delivery supply chain to return to normal," Alpharetta-based Colonial said in a statement.

“As such, some markets served by Colonial Pipeline may experience, or continue to experience, intermittent service interruptions. Colonial continues to move as much gasoline, diesel and jet fuel as possible and will continue to do so until markets return to normal.”

Colonial has said the leak in Line 1 was detected Sept. 9 by a mining inspector in Shelby County, Ala., near Birmingham. The pipeline is a critical connection from Gulf Coast refineries to numerous states along the Eastern Seaboard, though gas also moves by other means.

The cause of the leak has not been revealed and the matter is under investigation by federal regulators.

‘Spotty outages’

RaceTrac, the metro-based gas station and convenience store operator, said motorists can get updated information on locations with fuel on its website, racetrac.com/locations-with-gas/.

Oklahoma-based QuikTrip has said it is getting only about half the usual supply of gas. Other retailers were scrambling to make deals for deliveries.

Garrett Townsend, director of public affairs for AAA in Georgia, said Tuesday morning “we are certainly still seeing spotty outages throughout the metro Atlanta area.”

Townsend said in a later news release that prices should return to last week’s levels “fairly soon” after the restoration of normal deliveries.

While annoying for motorists, the crimped supply does not appear to have broadly affected commerce or government.

Operations at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport have remained normal as the airport’s supply chain for jet fuel has not been affected by the gasoline pipe problem, a spokesman said.

Shippers UPS and FedEx did not report any major issues.

Spokespeople for the city of Atlanta, Atlanta police and local counties including Gwinnett and DeKalb noted no issues. Suppliers to local governments have kept up with the pace of demands, but local authorities continue to monitor the situation.

Gouging complaints

Tighter supply has widened the price range, with a few stations hovering around $2 per gallon for regular unleaded and others north of $3. The Georgia Consumer Protection Unit said it has received at least 81 gas gouging complaints since last week.

Gov. Nathan Deal on Monday signed an executive order banning gas stations from gas gouging, echoing a state law that already prohibits gas stations from significantly hiking prices during a “state of emergency.”

The law requires gas stations to charge the same price they did immediately before the state of emergency unless there’s “an increase in cost of the goods or services to the person selling the goods or services or an increase in the cost of transporting the goods or services into the area.”

Station owners caught gouging prices could face a maximum civil penalty of $5,000 per violation.

The definition of gouging can be in the eye of the beholder, said economist Jeff Korzenik, chief investment strategist of Fifth Third Bank.

In general, the notion seems to apply in a situation where there’s a need for some product and no competition — and when Colonial’s pipeline stopped pumping fuel, no one could really replace it, he told the AJC after an interview after a Buckhead talk Tuesday. “It takes a long time to build a pipeline.”

The best way to prevent a shortage is let the market work, he said. “The price is the price. The only alternative is rationing by the government.”

Gasoline is a necessity for many people, but they can be more efficient in using it by combining trips, driving less, buying high-mileage vehicles or using mass transit.

“But historically, consumers don’t adjust quickly, they don’t change their habits — especially when they think the problem is going to be temporary.”

Staff writers Greg Bluestein, Matt Kempner and Kelly Yamanouchi contributed to this story.