Colonial Pipeline
In May 2021, the pipeline was the subject of a ransomware cyberattack that caused a shutdown of their operations for five days, which resulted in a temporary fuel shortage along the East Coast.
[4][5][6] Colonial consists of more than 5,500 mi (8,850 km) of pipeline, originating in Houston, Texas, on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and terminating at the Port of New York and New Jersey.
It delivers a daily average of 1×108 US gallons (3.8×108 L) of gasoline, home heating oil, aviation fuel and other refined petroleum products to communities and businesses throughout the South and Eastern United States.
[10]: 16 A ceremonial ground-breaking near Atlanta, the pipeline's eventual headquarters, on June 20, 1962, was attended by U.S. Commerce Secretary Luther Hodges and company, city and state officials.
[10]: 19 The first lengths of pipe were delivered by rail, barge, and on specially constructed trailers to handle 80-foot double joints on the road.
Chief among these was designing and constructing valves capable of opening and closing 2-ton steel gates in a timely manner to prevent substantial intermingling of different products.
[10]: 21 On December 1, 1964, mainline construction of the Colonial Pipeline was completed, and the Linden Junction Tank Farm and Delivery Facility in New Jersey was activated.
[10]: 24 The Colonial system averaged a throughput of 636,553 barrels of refined product a day in 1965, its first full year of operation.
[10]: 25 Fred Steingraber was elected president of Colonial Pipeline Company on July 26, 1965, taking control in October.
[10]: 34 The Colonial pipeline board of directors approved phase 2 and 3 of its early expansion projects to increase capacity on its mainline to 1 million barrels per day.
[10]: 49 Colonial Pipeline Company relocated its corporate headquarters in Atlanta from Lenox Towers to Resurgens Plaza.
[10]: 52–53 Colonial introduced elastic-wave pigs to inspect and detect microscopic cracks in the pipeline walls.
[10]: 58 Colonial replaced Pipeline Instruction and Proficiency Examination with a computer-based training program for operations and environmental field staff.
[10]: 64 As a precautionary measure, on December 31, 1999, Colonial Pipeline shut down operations for a few hours before and after midnight to prevent any Y2K-related power outages.
[10]: 74 Colonial Pipeline marked a record year with an annual throughput of 2.3 million barrels per day.
[10]: 74 After the passage of Hurricane Ike in September 2008, the pipeline was operated at a severely reduced capacity due to a lack of supply from refineries in the Gulf Coast that had closed, causing gasoline shortages across the southeastern United States.
[citation needed] An estimated two million gallons of gasoline leaked into the Oehler Nature Preserve near Huntersville, North Carolina.
Melanie Little named president and CEO[14] Colonial Pipeline's field operations are divided into three districts: Colonial connects directly to several major airports, including Atlanta, Nashville, Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh-Durham, Dulles, Baltimore-Washington, and beginning October 2022, Philadelphia International Airport.
Colonial was required to pay a civil penalty of $34 million, the "largest a company has paid in EPA history.
"[20] In this period, Colonial received the American Petroleum Institute (API)'s Distinguished Environmental and Safety award for four consecutive years (1999–2002).
[20] In 2005, Hurricane Katrina knocked out power in large parts of Mississippi and Louisiana, forcing Colonial to operate at reduced flow rates.
When Hurricane Rita hit a month later, Colonial used these generators to help load product stranded in refinery storage tanks that did not have power.
By the time hurricanes Gustav and Ike struck in 2008, Colonial owned and operated this set of emergency generators.
[10]: 20 Colonial was featured in an August 1964 edition of Time magazine in an article titled, "The Invisible Network: A Revolution Underground".
