WASHINGTON — Concerns over possible fuel shortages continued to grow on Tuesday as some gas stations in the region saw long lines of cars while a marina near DC wondered when its next delivery might come.
The WUSA Sky9 helicopter spotted dozens of cars in line waiting for gasoline outside the Costco off West Ox Road in Fairfax on Tuesday evening.
The concerns stem from a cyberattack discovered last Friday that led to Colonial Pipeline shutting down a pipeline that supplies almost half of all refined fuel along the East Coast.
On Tuesday, Gov. Ralph Northam announced a state of emergency in Virginia to allow for more funding and flexibility for state and local governments to ensure adequate fuel supply.
"This emergency declaration will help the Commonwealth prepare for any potential supply shortages and ensure Virginia motorists have access to fuel as we respond to this evolving situation,” said Gov. Northam.
In a statement posted to its website, Colonial Pipeline said staff was continuing to work "around the clock" while the company remained committed to restoring service.
"Since our pipeline system was taken offline, working with our shippers, Colonial has delivered approximately 967,000 barrels (~41 million gallons) to various delivery points along our system," read the statement, which noted that some fuel was delivered to Baltimore. "Additionally, in preparation for our system restart, we have taken delivery of an additional 2 million barrels (~84 million gallons) from refineries for deployment upon restart."
With worry over a possible fuel shortage, some gas stations have reported outages.
According to travel app GasBuddy, almost 6.5% of gas stations in Virginia were out of fuel as of late Monday.
Experts warned against panic buying and said consumers should stay calm as Colonial Pipeline works to bring their system back online.
"It would be great if people could convince themselves not to hoard when you hear a scary report," said Harry Holzer, a professor of public policy at Georgetown University. "If we can convince people not to panic, most of these things ought to pass fairly quickly.”
Holzer noted how the response from Colonial Pipeline will play a key role in the gas market.
Depending on how quickly the company can get the system back up and running, he said communication from the company could help ease concerns.
"If Colonial can convince people they’ll be up and running again, any price spike ought to be modest and temporary," Holzer said. "If they falter and first they say Friday and then they say maybe Monday, that might fan the flames of more panic buying.”
Some of the worry over fuel shortages and gas prices could be felt at Columbia Island Marina on Tuesday.
As boats floated along the Potomac near the Pentagon, marina general manager Matthew McDaniel told WUSA 9 that the pipeline shutdown was impacting the delivery of fuel to the docks.
"It went from zero panic to about a seven or eight and then a nine today after I contacted the fuel distributor," he said. "They’re really struggling to even find the fuel and on top of that, my delivery is basically cut in half and I don’t when I’m going to get it.”
"There is a high chance that I may run out of fuel here in the next coming weeks," he added.
The possible fuel shortage comes as warmer temperatures and nice weather lead to more people heading out onto the water.
McDaniel said the marina currently had higher occupancy than the same time last year and in 2019.
Moving forward, he said it would be critical for more fuel to be delivered to meet the demand being seen locally.
"We don’t make a huge profit margin off of gas but it is a required service and it is one of the drawing factors to our marina," he said. "It’s a huge issue if we do run out of fuel here. Boating would be shut down. There would be no boating if this continues to trend this way.”
A possible fuel shortage could also impact air travel in the region.
In a statement sent to WUSA 9, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority noted how Dulles Airport is served by the Colonial Pipeline.
"Dulles International Airport maintains a supply of several days’ worth of fuel on-site and is working closely with its fuel contractor to monitor the situation," the statement read. "Reagan National Airport is served by a different pipeline. There have been no operational impacts at either airport."
In the days ahead, Holzer said the reaction from others would be important to easing the fallout from the pipeline shutdown.
"When we all hoard collectively, we create a big problem," he said. "The best thing consumers can do if they want to help the situation is to not panic.”