COLUMBIA, S.C. — A cyberattack on Colonial Pipeline caused a shutdown of the company that supplies much of the gasoline, jet fuel and petroleum products along the East Coast. Although the company has restarted the pipeline as of late Wednesday, the shutdown has lead to a temporary gas supply shortage in certain areas.
Motorists who are in need of gas have turned to GasBuddy.com, a popular app that tracks gasoline availability and prices. You can download the app or go to Gasbuddy.com and pull up the website and navigate to the Tracker to check for gas in your area.
Even though the situation is only temporary, gas prices rose Monday after news of the cyberattack spread, prompting South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson to put the state's price gouging statute in effect to prevent overcharging at the pump.
According to GasBuddy, the average price of gasoline on Wednesday went over $3 per gallon. The website cites the COVID-19 recovery driving demand as more vehicles return to the streets paired with slow improvement in supply.
On a lighter note, GasBuddy notes the last time the national price of gasoline surpassed the $3 per gallon mark was in 2014, "when David Letterman still hosted Late Night, Pharell’s meme-worthy hat was introduced to the world, and Kim and Kanye got hitched."