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Updated May 12, 2021 - Energy & Environment

Several states declare emergency over Colonial Pipeline shutdown

Rebecca Falconer
A sign warns consumers on the avaliability of gasoline at a RaceTrac gas station on May 11, 2021, in Smyrna, Georgia.

A sign warns consumers on the avaliability of gasoline at a RaceTrac gas station in Smyrna, Ga., on May 11. The average national price of gasoline has risen to $2.985 a gallon, Bloomberg notes. Photo: Elijah Nouvelage/AFP via Getty Images

Reports of fuel shortages across the U.S. emerged on Tuesday as the national average for gasoline prices soared to its highest level since 2014 amid a key fuel pipeline shut down, per Bloomberg.

What's happening: Operator Colonial Pipeline aims to have service restored by the week's end following last Friday's ransomware attack that shut down some 5,500 miles of pipeline from Texas to New Jersey. The governors of Florida, Georgia, Virginia and North Carolina declared states of emergency Tuesday due to shortage concerns.

Vehicles line up to get fuel at a Sunoco gas station in Sumter, South Carolina, U.S., on Tuesday, May 11
Vehicles line up to get fuel at a Sunoco gas station in Sumter, S.C., on May 11. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued a regional emergency declaration on May 9 for 17 states and D.C., to keep fuel supply lines open. Photo: Micah Green/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Signs to limit the puchase of gas from customers are seen on gas pumps at a Marathon gas station on May 11, 2021, in Smyrna, Georgia.
Signs about limiting gas purchases displayed at a Marathon gas station in Smyrna May 11. Colonial said in a statement Tuesday it started a segment of the pipeline and delivered some 41 million gallons of fuel to locations including in the Carolinas, Georgia and New Jersey. Photo: Elijah Nouvelage/AFP via Getty Images
Cars line up to fill their gas tanks at a COSTCO at Tyvola Road in Charlotte, North Carolina on May 11
Cars line up at a COSTCO at Tyvola Road in Charlotte, N.C. on May 11. There have been reports of panic-buying across the country. Photo: Logan Cyrus/AFP via Getty Images
A "fuel out" sign posted on an entrance door at a Marathon gas station in Elizabethtown, North Carolina, U.S., on Monday, May 10
A "fuel out" sign posted on an entrance at a Marathon gas station in Elizabethtown, N.C., on May 10. Photo: Andrew Sherman/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Cars line up at a QuickTrip on May 11, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia
Cars line up at a QuickTrip in Atlanta on May 11. Photo: Megan Varner/Getty Images
Cars line up at a Chevron Corp. gas station in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Thursday, March 11
Cars line up at a Chevron gas station in San Francisco on March 11. Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Editor's note: This article has been updated to include governors' emergency declarations and with more photos.

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