The company that runs the Colonial Pipleine that stretches from Houston to NYC has announced that it doesn’t have a projected date when it will be repaired. That’s bad news for people in areas where gas prices are climbing and pumps are beginning to run out: southern states including Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia now report shortages, but they could come soon to an East Coast gas station near you.

This is the result of a pipeline leak in Alabama spotted on Sept. 9, which was supposed to be repaired by now. Instead, stations in some parts of the Southeast are out of gas or seeing prices climb, and the federal government has ordered the pipeline’s owner to repair the leak.

Colonial Pipeline first moved its projected repair date ahead, then announced that it would be building a bypass pipeline to go around the leak and make sure fuel deliveries keep on trucking. For now, gasoline is shipped down a secondary parallel pipeline normally used for other products, like jet fuel.

The announcement of a bypass instead of a repair isn’t a very promising statement about the repair of the main pipeline, which has leaked somewhere between 252,000 and 336,000 gallons of gasoline into a retention pond in Alabama.

Are you seeing gas price spikes or shortages near you? Let us know by sending your tales of fuel woe to tips@consumerist.com.

Colonial Pipeline Leak Causing Gas Shortages Across North Carolina [Time Warner Cable]
Feds order Colonial Pipeline to repair leaking fuel line, protect environment [Times Free Press]
PUMPS OUT OF GAS IN NORTH CAROLINA AFTER PIPELINE LEAK [WTVD]

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.