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On Monday, September 12, 2016, a leak in the Colonial Pipeline in Shelby County, Alabama, spilled an estimated 350,000 US gallons of summer-grade gasoline, requiring a partial shutdown of the pipeline, and causing gas shortages in much of the Southeastern United States. Six states are affected (Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia), with Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Virginia declaring states of emergency. [1] The same line suffered an explosion in late October at a site only miles distant. [2]
The Colonial Pipeline is the largest pipeline system for refined oil products in the U.S. The pipeline – consisting of three tubes – is 5,500 miles (8,850 km) long and can carry 3 million barrels of fuel per day between Texas and New York.
The 2016 Southeastern United States gasoline shortage was an phenomenon caused by the 2016 Colonial Pipeline Leak and the resulting panic buying in which many gas stations across six states have entirely run out of gasoline, causing price hikes, halts of services, and several declarations of states of emergency.
The 2020 Colonial Pipeline oil spill was a major release of gasoline from the Colonial Pipeline in a nature reserve near Huntersville, North Carolina, in the United States. The spill, which began on July 27, resulted in approximately 2,000,000 U.S. gallons (7,600,000 L) of gasoline and led to a cleanup effort that is still ongoing and expected to continue for several years. Several sources have noted that the spill is one of the largest in the history of the United States, with EnergyWire calling it, "the largest U.S. gasoline pipeline spill on record".