Stocking up on gas is ‘dangerous, not necessary,’ SC Gov. McMaster says, urging calm
Editor’s note: Check out our coverage on how to safely handle and store gasoline as well as what is (and isn’t) causing fuel prices to increase in South Carolina.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster asked residents to stay calm and avoid hoarding fuel as the state’s gasoline supply crunch continues.
“Don’t don’t go out and try to stock up for the next couple of weeks,” he told reporters Wednesday. “It’s dangerous. It’s not necessary.”
The gasoline supply problems started Friday when the Colonial Pipeline system — which runs from Texas to New Jersey and serves 70% of the oil supplies to Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and southern Virginia — shut down. The halt in fuel movement was a result of Russian criminals hacking the Colonial Pipeline, according to the FBI.
“I know that company and others are working hard to see that we fill this gap until we can get back to normal,” McMaster said after attending Horry-Georgetown Technical College’s commencement ceremony in Myrtle Beach.
McMaster’s comments came just over an hour before Colonial Pipeline announced that it was restarting pipeline operations at 5 p.m.
“Following this restart, it will take several days for the product delivery supply chain to return to normal,” the company said in a statement. “Some markets served by Colonial Pipeline may experience, or continue to experience, intermittent service interruptions during the start-up period. Colonial will move as much gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel as is safely possible and will continue to do so until markets return to normal.”
South Carolina has seen dozens of gas stations run out of gas, with more than 40% of gas stations across the state reporting they were without fuel Wednesday afternoon, according to Gasbuddy, a company that tracks the prices and availability of gas nationwide.
In the meantime, McMaster said the state transportation department is working to ensure school buses have enough fuel to get children to and from school.
“This has happened before,” he said. “We’ve had shutdowns of the pipelines before — not through hacking like this — but we’ll get through it, and I urge everybody just to stay calm and don’t overdo it.
McMaster noted that the state has laws against price gouging to protect consumers. Yesterday, S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson formally put those laws into effect and asked consumers to report any businesses they believe are engaging in illegal price gouging.
In response to the news about the Colonial Pipeline restarting, McMaster tweeted, “This is great news for South Carolina and the other states that have been impacted. Supply won’t immediately return to normal levels, but there is still no reason for anyone to hoard gas or rush to the gas station.”
This story was originally published May 12, 2021 at 5:55 PM with the headline "Stocking up on gas is ‘dangerous, not necessary,’ SC Gov. McMaster says, urging calm."
