Thursday May 13th 2021
Garbage bags as petrol cans
The situation at US gas stations is worsening
After the hacker attack on the Colonial Pipeline, many gas stations on the US east coast ran out of gas. The supply is slowly starting up again, but that doesn’t stop worried customers from hamstering. With adventurous transport solutions you put yourself and others in danger.
In the face of panic buying after the hacking attack on a US pipeline, the situation at the country’s gas stations has worsened. Thousands of gas stations in the eastern United States ran out of gas on Wednesday, and long queues formed at pumps that were still working. The authorities even warned motorists not to put gasoline in garbage bags after images circulated on online platforms. The Colonial Pipeline affected by the hacker attack resumed operations on Wednesday.
The pipeline operator was targeted by an extortion trojan last week. The largest volume pipeline in the United States, which runs from Houston in the state of Texas to the New York area, has therefore been temporarily shut down. Operations resumed on Wednesday. However, the operator warned that it would take “several days” for the fuel supply to return to normal.
Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in view of the hamster purchases, fuel should only be filled directly into the tank or into approved containers. “Now is the time to be careful and sensible.” The consumer protection agency CPSC warned of the potentially “deadly consequences”: “Don’t fill plastic bags with gasoline. We know this sounds easy, but when people are desperate, they stop thinking clearly.” Buttigieg basically called on the population to calm down. The government does understand the concerns of the people. “But hamsters don’t make it any better.”
The eastern United States is struggling with supply bottlenecks after last week’s hacker attack on the Colonial Pipeline. In some areas, according to the specialist website GasBuddy, 70 percent of gas stations ran out of gas. Gasoline prices have risen to their highest level since 2014. Around a dozen states have declared a state of emergency – but this seems to induce many motorists to buy hamsters.
“The public perception is that if the situation is so bad that our governors have to declare a state of emergency, then it has to be really bad and I have to refuel,” said Andy Lipow of consulting firm Lipow Oil Associates. “As a result, we have seen demand at gas stations that is two to three times higher than normal, and that is making the situation worse.”
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