Fuel leak in Virginia shuts down part of Colonial Pipeline

DANVILLE, Va. (AP) — A diesel fuel leak in Virginia shut down part of the Colonial Pipeline, the nation’s largest fuel pipeline, which supplies roughly half the fuel consumed on the East Coast, but it is expected to restart Saturday, the company said.

The spill was discovered Tuesday. And while this particular line is shut down, the rest of the system is operating normally, spokesperson David Conti said in an email.

Crews are fixing equipment that failed at the Witt booster station near Danville, Colonial said in a statement. The failure caused a spill that was detected during a routine station check and appears to be contained to the property, the Alpharetta, Georgia-based company said. The company didn’t say what caused the leak or how much had spilled.

Colonial transports gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and home heating oil from refineries located on the Gulf Coast through pipelines running from Texas to New Jersey. Its pipeline system spans more than 5,500 miles (8,850 kilometers), transporting more than 100 million gallons (378 million liters) a day. The impacted line carries about 885,000 barrels of product a day from Greensboro, North Carolina, to Linden, New Jersey, the Danville Register & Bee reported.

In May 2021, the company temporarily shut down its operations after a ransomware attack.