'Thank you for calling, we have no gas'

Many gas stations in Chapel Hill and Carrboro were completely out of gasoline as of Tuesday morning, but some are expecting deliveries within the next 24 hours.

North Carolina and five other southern states experienced a gasoline shortage due to a pipeline spill near Birmingham, Alabama.

Arindam Dasgupta, the Airport Road BP store manager, said the shortage has greatly affected the station.

“It’s affecting us because if the gas is not there, we lose some sales inside,” he said. “Yesterday a lot of people filled up their tanks and people were mostly following the tankers.”

Customers have been understanding about the situation and haven’t been frustrated with the gas station employees, Dasgupta said.

The Shell station on Farrington Road in Chapel Hill is out of gas, but is expecting a delivery later Tuesday night. The Speedway on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard is also out of gas. 

The majority of gas stations in the area declined to comment on the shortage because the issue is statewide and deals with corporate policies and regulations.

The shortage was caused when gasoline leaked from the Colonial Pipeline into a pond on Sept. 9, causing the pipeline to be shut down.

Gov. Pat McCrory issued a state of emergency to prevent a spike in gas prices and ensure that there was enough gas throughout the state.

Colonial Pipeline Company delivers more than 100 million gallons of gasoline to markets on the East Coast each day.

In an update on Sept. 20, McCrory said construction on the Colonial Pipeline was completed, but it’ll take several days for fuel supplies to be replenished in North Carolina.

UNC senior Sarah Ammons lives in an off-campus apartment and said the shortage could potentially affect her commute to class.

“If it gets super serious and the buses stop running, then I’ll have to start walking to class, but overall it won’t have a huge impact on my daily life,” she said.

Ammons drives a Toyota Prius, so she said she only has to get gas every three weeks.

“Having a Prius changes my concern because I never worry about gas prices or getting gas,” she said. “I think the real concern is the environmental impact this leak is going to have — at least that’s where my concern lies.”

UNC junior Caroline Joyner said she thought the issue was exaggerated by students and she didn’t think it would be this big of a deal.

“I thought people were just freaking out for no reason like they do when we’re about to get an inch of snow,” she said. “I’m most worried about getting stuck in the case of an emergency and not being able to go somewhere because I can’t get gas. I have to drive 40 minutes home to Oxford this weekend, so it may affect that.”

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