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Lines form at the gas pump in the wake of pipeline spill
Supplies threatened in five southeastern states
W gas
Tanker trucks line up at a Colonial Pipeline Co. facility in Pelham, Ala., near the scene of a 250,000-gallon gasoline spill on Friday. The company says spilled gasoline is being taken to the storage facility for storage. Some motorists could pay a little more for gasoline in coming days because of delivery delays.
ATLANTA (AP) — Lines formed at gas stations across the South on Saturday and drivers who were able to find fuel had to pay more for it in some cases, as prices edged up following a pipeline spill in Alabama.Fuel supplies in at least five states — Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas — were threatened by the spill, and the U.S. Department of Transportation ordered the company responsible to take corrective action before the fuel starts flowing again.Colonial Pipeline Co. must conduct testing and analysis on the failed section of the pipeline, according to the Transportation Department's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Agency, which is investigating the spill in rural Alabama.The company has acknowledged that between 252,000 gallons and 336,000 gallons of gasoline leaked from a pipeline near Helena, Alabama, since the spill was first detected Sept. 9. It's unclear when the spill actually started."The department will remain on site to carry out its investigation, and make sure the operator is taking the necessary steps to prevent any future incidents," agency administrator Marie Therese Dominguez said in a statement.Some gas stations were completely out of fuel. Tennessee Emergency Management Director Patrick Sheehan tried to reassure drivers."Tennessee's consumers need to maintain their normal driving and fuel buying habits.
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