Average gas prices hit $3 per gallon as pipeline fallout rocks Georgia
May 13—The average price of gas in the United States has surpassed $3 a gallon for the first time since 2014, an industry monitor announced Wednesday.
The milestone points to the escalating energy crisis following a cyberattack last weekend on Colonial Pipeline, which delivers nearly half of the East Coast's fuel supply. Colonial restarted the pipeline late Wednesday afternoon, but company officials said service won't be fully restored for several days.
GasBuddy, a fuel price monitoring app, said in a news release the spike isn't entirely based on the pipeline shutdown. Rising demand for fuel as the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, coupled with ongoing supply chain difficulties, could have driven fuel prices past the $3 mark anyway, GasBuddy said.
As of Wednesday morning, GasBuddy found that roughly 60% of stations in the metro Atlanta area were without fuel. On the 10-mile length of Austell Road from Marietta to Austell, hardly a station was to be found with gas left. Most displayed zeroes on their signs and had placed plastic bags over the pump handles.
Suppliers are already feeling the squeeze of the pipeline shutdown. Kim Gresh, president of the S.A. White Oil Company, said this week has been the worst for sourcing fuel she's ever seen — including during catastrophes like Hurricanes Katrina and Harvey.
"We just drive from terminal to terminal and cannot load," Gresh said. "On my wholesale side, what I buy for construction accounts and that type, I mean, there is nothing out there."
Gresh has heard rumors that supplies should start bouncing back by the end of the week, but until then, her drivers are trekking to Alabama to load their fuel trucks.
At the BP on Whitlock Avenue on Wednesday, regular gas was the only type available at $2.89 per gallon as a line of cars snaked into the street. Tristan Payne and Will Hettrich had just left work at Home Depot, where they said gas cans were flying off the shelves. Nonetheless, Payne said, he's "not terribly" concerned just yet.
"We'll give it another day or two, and then I'll really know. But right now it's not too bad," Payne said.
"If I see this one and the RaceTrac completely out for a day straight with no one here, then I'll be a little more concerned," Hettrich added.
Shortages and panic buying has raised concerns of price gouging around the state. As part of an executive order signed by Gov. Brian Kemp this week, vendors are prohibited from charging more for fuel than before the order went into effect, "unless the increased prices accurately reflect an increase in the cost of new stock or the cost to transport it," plus the average retail markup in the 10 days prior to the state of emergency.
Smyrna Mayor Derek Norton directed city marshals to deliver notices to all gas stations in the city limits Tuesday evening warning them that any such price gouging would be reported to the state. Norton said his office had already received about 50 complaints of high prices.
"We're putting everybody on notice that if they're going to gouge our citizens, that they're going to be reported to the state. We're paying attention," Norton said.
Marietta Mayor Steve Tumlin, meanwhile, hasn't heard many reports of price gouging, but encouraged residents to be prudent with their fuel and neighborly toward each other until the crisis abates.
"I walked down to City Hall, I walked to lunch, you know, we can conserve ... but we have to help those who have to drive 22 miles to Atlanta to work," Tumlin said. He went on to encourage residents to carpool, work from home if possible, and walk to their errands.
Lisa Cupid, chair of the Cobb Board of Commissioners, is taking a similar approach by asking her staff to work from home if possible, and is in talks with the county manager's office to discuss which other county employees could do the same until the shortages pass.
Cobb County government had not yet received any reports of price gouging and had not taken any enforcement action as of Wednesday morning, spokesperson Ross Cavitt said. Should the county hear of any price gouging, he added, any reports will be referred to the Georgia Attorney General's consumer protection office.
