Gas pumps along the East Coast are lined with bright yellow and red bags now, letting people that they're not in service. A gas shortage is hitting several states on this side of the country after the largest refined oil pipeline in the U.S. was hacked over the weekend. The subsequent panic buying accelerated the impending crisis, and now some states are concerned that their gas shortages are only getting worse.
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Colonial Pipeline Co. was targeted by hackers with a ransomware attack that takes data from computerized systems hostage until a payment is made, USA Today reported. In an effort to contain the breach, the company shut down its 5,500 miles of pipeline on May 8, disrupting fuel supply on the East Coast, per The New York Times. Colonial Pipeline Co. resumed operations on May 12, Patrick De Haan, the senior petroleum analyst at fuel monitoring website GasBuddy, reported. But the damage was already done.
During a private virtual meeting on May 10, Colonial Pipeline Co. CEO Joseph Blount reportedly warned state officials that supply shortages could occur even once the pipeline is back up and running, a source familiar with the discussion told Bloomberg. Per the source, Blount also announced at the time that while the company was in the middle of developing a restart plan, they would not resume gas shipments until the ransomware had been removed
According to the Colonial Pipeline Co. website, the pipeline runs through 13 states: New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. But a few other states have also been affected by the pipeline's shutdown, like Arkansas, Kentucky, New York, and Florida, which was made clear when the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Administration (USDOT's FMCSA) issued a regional emergency declaration for those states, as well as the 13 states within the pipeline's reach.
On May 12, De Haan tweeted that gas demand in the U.S. was already up 14.5 percent from just a week prior. And user-reported data on the GasBuddy app showed that more than 10,000 gas stations across Southeastern states were out of fuel, per The Washington Post.
Of course, as consumers struggle to find gas in their area, some states are being hit worse than others. Using data released by Gasbuddy, we ranked the 13 states experiencing the worst gas shortages as of May 12. Read on to find out which states' gas stations are coming up empty.
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13 | New Jersey
iStockPercent of all stations without gasoline: 1 percent
12 | Kentucky
ShutterstockPercent of all stations without gasoline: 2 percent
11 | Delaware
iStockPercent of all stations without gasoline: 2 percent
10 | West Virginia
ShutterstockPercent of all stations without gasoline: 5 percent
9 | Mississippi
ShutterstockPercent of all stations without gasoline: 6 percent
8 | Alabama
Sean Pavone / ShutterstockPercent of all stations without gasoline: 7 percent
7 | Maryland
ShutterstockPercent of all stations without gasoline: 13 percent
6 | Florida
iStockPercent of all stations without gasoline: 14 percent
5 | Tennessee
iStockPercent of all stations without gasoline: 18 percent
4 | Georgia
ShutterstockPercent of all stations without gasoline: 45 percent
3 | South Carolina
ShutterstockPercent of all stations without gasoline: 45 percent
2 | Virginia
iStockPercent of all stations without gasoline: 49 percent
1 | North Carolina
iStockPercent of all stations without gasoline: 68 percent
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