Economics
Gas Pipeline Blast Shows East Coast Shackled to Precarious Lifeline
- Explosion shuts Colonial system for second time in two months
- Gasoline futures reach eight-year high as traders scramble
Colonial Pipeline Explosion Jolts U.S. Gasoline Prices
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A 40-inch-wide pipeline that snakes its way from the oil-soaked Gulf Coast to the tank farms of northern New Jersey carries a quarter of the gasoline used by East Coast motorists.
On Monday, that thin lifeline snapped after an explosion and fire in Alabama. The fallout: For the second time in two months, the price of fuel for truckers, commuters and soccer moms threatened to jump, even as global crude prices decline.