Gas shortage improving in Virginia with pipeline back up and running
(The Center Square) – The gas shortage is improving in Virginia now that the Colonial Pipeline is back up and running after it temporarily halted operations following a software attack.
About 27% of Virginia gas stations are still out of gasoline as of Tuesday morning, but that number is continuing to go down. On Friday, the shortage was at its worst point in the commonwealth when 53% of gas stations ran out of fuel.
The shortage caused gas prices to go up throughout the commonwealth. The average cost of gas was nearly $2.95 per gallon on average, with several localities surpassing $3, including Fairfax City, Fairfax County, Arlington County, the City of Alexandria, Prince William County, Essex County and Scott County.
Drivers can use the search engine on the GasBuddy tracker to find out where they can get gas and what those prices are.
Gas shortages throughout the region were caused by the pipeline halting operations and further amplified by some Americans panic buying gasoline.
Gov. Ralph Northam declared a state of emergency, which allowed state agencies to issue field transportation waivers and gave them more flexibility to use state and local resources to ensure an adequate fuel supply. House Republicans urged the governor to temporarily halt the gas tax to alleviate the soaring costs, but the governor did not do so.
The FBI has said the hacker group Darkside is responsible for the attack. The group is based in Eastern Europe. The pipeline paid about $5 million to the hackers to get the pipeline running again.
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