State and federal officials are scrambling to find alternate routes to deliver gasoline in the Southeast U.S. after a hack of the nation’s largest fuel pipeline led to panic-buying that contributed to more than 1,000 gas stations running out of fuel.

There is no gasoline shortage, according to government officials and energy analysts, but if the pipeline shutdown continues past the weekend, it could create broader fuel disruptions.

The Colonial Pipeline, which delivers about 45% of what is consumed on the East Coast, was hit on Friday with a cyberattack by hackers who lock up computer systems and demand a ransom to release them. The attack raised concerns, once again, about the vulnerability of the nation’s critical infrastructure.

The pipeline runs from the Gulf Coast to the New York metropolitan region, but states in the Southeast are more reliant on the pipeline for fuel. Other parts of the country have more sources to tap. For example, a substantial amount of fuel is delivered to states in the Northeast by massive tankers.

“What you’re feeling is not a lack of supply or a supply issue. What we have is a transportation issue,” said Jeanette McGee, spokeswoman for the AAA auto club. “There is ample supply to fuel the United States for the summer, but what we’re having an issue with is getting it to those gas stations because the pipeline is down.”

In North Carolina, 28% of gas stations were out of fuel, according to Gasbuddy.com, a technology firm that tracks real-time fuel prices across the country. In Raleigh-Durham, it was worse, with 72% of gas stations out of fuel.

North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper urged people Wednesday to only buy gas if their tank is low and to report any instances of price gouging.

“We will continue our efforts to help make sure there is an adequate supply of fuel,” Cooper wrote on Twitter.

Cooper declared a state of emergency Monday, initiating fuel waivers that make it easier to transport fuel into the state.

Georgians were also getting squeezed, with 17.5% of stations there out of gas, according to Gasbuddy.com. In Virginia, 17% of stations were out, and in South Carolina, 16% had no fuel.

A large part of the pipeline resumed operations manually late Monday, and Colonial anticipates restarting most of its operations by the end of the week, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Tuesday.

However, the disruption is taking place at the time of year when Americans begin to become more mobile, especially as the nation emerges from the pandemic.

The national average price for a gallon of gasoline ticked above $3 for the first time since 2016 Wednesday, according to the AAA auto club. Prices begin to rise around this time every year and the AAA auto club said Wednesday that the average price hit $3.008 nationally.

“You go to some states, and you’re going to see much higher increases, especially in the South, because that’s where you’re seeing the largest impact in terms of the strain of gasoline, or strain of people,” McGee said.

The AAA expects more than 37 million people to travel at least 50 miles from home during the Memorial Day weekend, up 60% from last year, which was the lowest since AAA began keeping records in 2000.

Multiple U.S. agencies are coordinating efforts to avert any potential shortage, should they arise.

The White House said Wednesday that the Department of Transportation is now allowing Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia to use interstate highways to transport overweight loads of gasoline and other fuels under existing disaster declarations.

The department’s Maritime Administration completed a review of potential actions available under the Jones Act, a U.S. maritime law that requires shipments between U.S. ports, including fuel, to be moved by American-flagged ships.

The Department of Homeland Security is prepared to review any temporary Jones Act waiver requests from companies if there is not sufficient capacity to get to regions suffering fuel shortages, said White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday.

Source: www.click2houston.com

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) and Dallas Park and Recreation will host the annual Older Americans Month Celebration Drive-Thru event on Friday, May 21, from 9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. To ensure the safety of everyone and enforce social distancing, this year’s celebration will be a drive-thru event with three locations to choose from:

• Singing Hills Recreation Center, 6805 Patrol Way, Dallas, TX 75241
• Samuell-Grand Recreation Center, 6200 East Grand Avenue, Dallas 75223
• Campbell Green Recreation Center, 16600 Park Hill Drive, Dallas 75248

This year’s theme is Communities of Strength. Older adults have built resilience and strength over their lives through successes, failures, joys, and difficulties. Their stories and contributions help to support and inspire others. There are many things we all can do to nurture ourselves, reinforce our strength, and continue to thrive. Connecting with others is one of the most important – it plays a vital role in our health and well-being, and in that of our communities.

DART and Dallas Park and Recreation are partnering to host the event along with our community partners including the City of Dallas, the Dallas Police Department, the Area Agency on Aging, The Senior Source, the Community Council of Greater Dallas, and Baylor Scott and White Health and Wellness at Junita J. Craft Recreation Center. Media partners include Al Día, fyi 50+, NBCDFW.com Channel 5, Seniors BlueBook, Seniorific.com, Telemundo 39 and The Dallas Morning News.

Giveaways are available on a first come, first serve basis for this free event.

You can find more information on the DART Transit Education website. You can also contact us at TransitEducation@dart.org, or call 214-749-3494.

Source: dart.org

Texas colleges and universities will get an additional $2 billion in the latest round of federal coronavirus stimulus funding — half of which must be used for financial grants to students struggling due to the pandemic, the U.S. Department of Education announced Tuesday.

The federal government also announced undocumented and international students can now receive those emergency funds too, rolling back a Trump administration rule that only allowed schools to distribute grants to students who qualified for federal financial aid, which excluded non-U.S. citizens.

“We applaud the Department of Education’s decision to include undocumented students in federal higher education funding,” said Jonathan Feinstein, Texas State Director for The Education Trust. “We hope that Texas colleges and universities will take full advantage of the policy to get this critical support to all students and maintain our long-standing commitment to the academic success and economic opportunity of undocumented students.”

The $36 billion released across the country Tuesday as a part of the American Rescue Plan Act was allocated to schools based on a formula that included the number of low-income students enrolled. Four-year public universities in Texas will receive the largest share of funding, with the University of Houston, Texas A&M University, and the University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley being allocated over $100 million each. Public community colleges in Texas will get an additional $430 million, including nearly $38 million for the Texas State Technical Colleges.

This is the third round of funding released to two- and four-year schools by the federal government during the pandemic. Texas received around $1 billion in the first round of funding under the CARES Act, which was primarily used to combat abrupt losses from meal and housing reimbursements and canceled events as the pandemic began.

A university spokesperson for the University of Houston said this new funding will continue to offset revenue losses and recoup costs of COVID-19 related measures.

The Department of Education is directing schools to prioritize giving money to struggling students. They can also use the money to retain and reengage students who have dropped out of college, either by providing mental health support, help with classes, or canceling student debt at their institution that was accrued during the pandemic. Schools can also use the funding to cover COVID-19 related costs, reimbursement for lost revenue, and technology upgrades.

Colleges and universities must also use part of the award to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, either to fund testing centers or to spread vaccine awareness and set up vaccination sites. Schools can also use the money to provide paid time off to staff to allow them to get the vaccine.

The influx of funding comes as the Texas Legislature is debating how much money to put toward higher education in the state budget for the next two years. Texas higher education leaders said the one-time influx of funding will help students continue to enroll and complete college despite the challenges of the pandemic, but more investment is welcome.

“The Coordinating Board continues to underscore to our state legislators the important role Texas colleges and universities play,” Texas Higher Education Commissioner Harrison Keller said in a statement. “They are the tip of the spear for both near-term recovery and long-term economic competitiveness.”

Currently, House and Senate versions of the budget maintain the 5% cuts to four-year universities enacted last year due to the pandemic, while the House version includes some additional funding for state financial aid that would help maintain current funding levels for state grants.

Higher education officials have also been holding out hope that the state will increase funding to post-secondary institutions by another $1.2 billion to unlock billions of dollars of federal funding allocated to the state’s K-12 schools. However, state officials applied for a federal waiver to bypass that financial commitment.

Earlier this week, the Texas Faculty Association and Texas State Teachers Association released a joint statement urging state lawmakers to allocate more funding for K-12 and higher education.

“Texas students and educators, both in higher education and K-12, don’t need a waiver. We need more funding,” the groups said. “Our school districts and higher education institutions need the additional resources to recoup pandemic-related expenses, address learning losses and operate safely as we work to emerge from this health emergency.”