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A federal government agency tasked with consumer safety is urging a simple piece of advice: don’t pump gas into plastic bags.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission tweeted that safety reminder Wednesday as the national average gasoline price increased to $3 per gallon and supplies shrank in the Southeast following a ransomware attack on a crucial pipeline that supplies 45% of all fuel to the East Coast.
“We know this sounds simple, but when people get desperate they stop thinking clearly. They take risks that can have deadly consequences. If you know someone who is thinking about bringing a container not meant for fuel to get gas, please let them know it’s dangerous,” the agency said on Twitter
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without referencing the cyberattack.
It wasn’t clear whether the commission was responding to actual instances of fuel-hungry drivers storing gas in unsafe containers. Representatives for the agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
One image and one video of bagged-up gas that circulated on the internet were real, but they pre-dated the cyber attack on the gas pipeline, according to the myth-busting website Snopes.com.
Myth or reality, there’s another point.
“Sometimes when we put out a safety message like this people use it as a way to look down on others. We ask that instead you use this as an opportunity to reflect on safety in your own life,” the safety commission said in a follow-up tweet.
Colonial Pipeline, the company behind the pipeline stretching from Texas to the New York Harbor, said that it had “initiated the restart of pipeline operations” at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
However, it will take several days for the product delivery supply chain to return to normal, according to the company’s statement. “Some markets served by Colonial Pipeline may experience, or continue to experience, intermittent service interruptions during the start-up period,” the company added.
Though regions like the New York City area have ports and other pipelines to use, there are fewer alternatives in the South, experts say. It’s been less than a week, but long lines have formed at gas stations in states such as North Carolina and Tennessee.
As a whole, the nation has adequate gas supplies, according to experts. They’ve urged drivers to resist the impulse to panic buy.
68% of North Carolina gas stations were out of gas and 45% of South Carolina stations are out of it as of Wednesday afternoon, according to Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, a website tracking gas prices and availability.
On Wednesday, the app overtook the Coinbase
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app as Apple’s
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most downloaded app.
Wednesday also marked the day that national average gas prices reached $3. November 2014 was the last time prices reached that level, according to AAA.
