The malicious hack of the Colonial Pipeline, which supplies nearly half of the East Coast’s diesel and gasoline supply, has hit drivers where it hurts.
The national price at the pump has risen to $2.985, a six-year high, according to AAA.
Fear of a shortage has caused Americans to swarm gas stations. CNN reports that “US gasoline demand jumped 20% on Monday compared with the prior week.” In Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia – the five states directly served by the pipeline – demand has spiked by 40%.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican, has suspend the state’s gas tax through the weekend, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. And North Carolina’s Democratic Governor, Roy Cooper, declared a state of emergency that “temporarily suspend[s] motor vehicle fuel regulations to ensure adequate fuel supply supplies throughout the state.”
On Monday night, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the Biden Administration is “monitoring supply shortages in parts of the Southeast and are evaluating every action the administration can take to mitigate the impact as much as possible.”
The Colonial Pipeline has been offline since hackers infiltrated it on Friday. The FBI said a cyber gang called DarkSide is behind the attack.
The company that runs the pipeline has been able to operate it manually, but nowhere near full capacity. They expect to have increased production by the end of the week and have assured state officials that they have regained “complete operational control of the pipeline,” according to Bloomberg. But it might take a prolonged period of time before all the ransomware is removed and they’re comfortable resuming shipments full bore.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told Bloomberg, “It tells you how utterly vulnerable we are. We’re seeing all of these examples of ransomware attacks coming — whether it’s telecommunications or this critical infrastructure. And obviously in my lane I’m very worried about the energy infrastructure.”