BY SARAH STEPHENS
ELMORE/AUTAUGA NEWS
Top photo by Brian Tannehill
A cyberattack that caused the temporary shutdown of Colonial Pipeline, is now impacting the eastern side of the United States. Some states are reporting shortages and long lines for purchase of gasoline and diesel.
Locally, a Wetumpka Chevron has posted a sign that 50-gallon fill-ups are temporarily not allowed. It is expected other stores could follow suit, depending on reports from Colonial in the coming days.
Rather than reinvent the wheel, the Elmore/Autauga News is posting three links (at the bottom of this article) to media outlets’ reports that help to explain the situation. What is not known is how long this could impact our area.
Officials are asking residents to not panic, but simply fill up your tank to suit the immediate need. A run on the gas supply could up the prices, and cause long lines, so officials are hoping for cooler heads to rule.
Colonial Pipeline transports over 100 million gallons of gasoline and other fuel every day from Houston to the New York Harbor according to its website. The cyberattack was discovered on Friday, and operations were temporarily put on hold.
“In response, we proactively took certain systems offline to contain the threat, which has temporarily halted all pipeline operations, and affected some of our IT systems,” the company said in a statement.
If you find other area gas stations in Autauga or Elmore counties that are posting signs, or limiting the purchase of fuel, please send us an email and/or photo to editorsarah@yahoo.com. Below are three links to articles concerning the situation. However, simply Googling Colonial Pipeline will bring up a number of articles from media outlets, in and out of country.
https://news.yahoo.com/no-end-sight-u-fuel-222356167.html
and also – https://news.yahoo.com/colonial-pipeline-everything-know-cyberattack-155047350.html
and https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/08/politics/colonial-pipeline-cybersecurity-attack/index.html
