Colonial Pipeline crews are working to address a “potential gasoline release” in Paulding County that was first reported Monday.
Due to the possible leak, company spokesperson David Conti said Tuesday that Line 1 had to be temporarily shut down. The line runs from Texas, northeast through Paulding and then continues north to New Jersey. It transports about 1.5 million barrels a day, the company’s website states.
A landowner in the area of Peg Cole Bridge Trail, off Villa Rica Highway, reported the possible leak Monday evening, Paulding fire department Capt. Steve Mapes and Colonial spokeswoman Meredith Stone confirmed.
By Tuesday evening, company officials stated there were no updates and did not specify when Line 1 would reopen.
The fire department said it has not been called to assist with the possible leak.
“They’ve not declared this an emergency. We’d certainly support them if needed,” Mapes said.
Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said the stoppage likely won’t have any impact on prices at the pump.
“Gasoline production continues at refineries that feed into the line, so the (temporary) shutdown itself will have no impact on prices,” De Haan said.
The company is a major distributor of fuel from refineries on the Gulf Coast to much of the East Coast of the United States. Founded in 1962, and based in Alpharetta, the company operates more than 5,500 miles of pipelines between Texas and New Jersey.
The company operates a critical piece of U.S. infrastructure, as revealed in 2021, when a ransomware attack led to more than a week of fuel shortages on the East Coast, including in Georgia. Hackers did not gain control of the pipelines at the time, but Colonial shut them down for five days to prevent cybercriminals from affecting industrial control systems, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported at the time.
That shut down strained supplies and triggered panic buying in Georgia and other states.
A 2016 leak suffered by Colonial Pipeline in Alabama also bedeviled Georgia motorists for days. Colonial built a 500-foot bypass line near Birmingham as a temporary measure to get around the damaged segment of pipe.
− Please return to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for updates.
