Just in time for the holiday weekend, when families typically look to get in the car for one last summertime cruise,­­­­­­­­­­­­ gas prices are spiking.

They normally go up a little bit before a holiday weekend anyway, but how much has Hurricane Harvey has impacted the price of gas? So far, it looks like prices are up by about $0.03 a gallon around the state, and will likely continue to climb into September.

How much the prices will climb depends on how fast oil pipelines are brought back up. The fact that one pipe in particular is closed now isn’t helping anything. NBC Connecticut says that the Colonial Pipeline, a primary fuel line that runs from Texas straight to New York, is closed because the local oil refineries are closed and there’s no oil to ship. The pipelines are damaged from the hurricane. The Colonial Pipeline is the biggest fuel transporter in the nation.

When repairs are made to the pipeline and refineries are open again, the Colonial will be brought back online. Prices are dependent on the amount of time it takes for those reparations. I'm thinking it won't be difficult for oil companies to begin to import from outside the US to supplement our needs until then. If that's the case, this spike thing may be fleeting (just my opinion).

In light of what Hurricane Harvey victims are suffering through, it seems we don’t have much to complain about. Sending thoughts and prayers to them from the Nutmeg state.

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