HELENA, Ala. (AP)– An explosion has shut down a pipeline that supplies gasoline to millions of people for the second time in less than two months, raising the specter of gas shortages and price increases.
One worker was killed and a half-dozen were injured in Monday’s blast in Alabama.
An earlier pipeline leak not far from Monday’s explosion led to Colonial Pipeline to shut down the delivery system in September. That prompted dry pumps and higher prices in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina and North Carolina.
The effects of the latest disruption aren’t immediately clear.
According to Helena Mayor Mark Hall, Colonial Pipeline crews were working on a line that exploded. There was no leak, and it is not related to the previous pipeline gas leak from a few months back.
