BUSINESS & AG LIFE
2B — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
THURSDAY, MAY 13, 2021
Gas stations report shortages as pipeline shutdown drags on
Hackers’ cyberattack on May 7 hit
nation’s biggest fuel pipeline
By CATHY BUSSEWITZ,
JEFF AMY and BOBBY CAINA
CALVAN
Associated Press
CHAMBLEE, Ga. —
More than 1,000 gas sta-
tions in the Southeast
reported running out of
fuel, primarily because of
what analysts say is unwar-
ranted panic-buying among
drivers, as the shutdown of
a major pipeline by a gang
of hackers entered its fi fth
day Tuesday, May 11.
Government offi cials
acted swiftly to waive
safety and environmental
rules to speed the delivery
of fuel by truck, ship or rail
to motorists and airports,
even as they sought to
assure the public that there
was no cause for alarm.
The Colonial Pipe-
line, the biggest fuel pipe-
line in the U.S., delivering
about 45% of what is con-
sumed on the East Coast,
was hit May 7 with a cyber-
attack by hackers who
lock up computer systems
and demand a ransom to
release them. The attack
raised concerns, once
again, about the vulnera-
bility of the nation’s critical
infrastructure.
A large part of the pipe-
line resumed operations
manually late May 10,
and Colonial anticipates
restarting most of its oper-
ations by the end of the
week, U.S. Energy Sec-
retary Jennifer Granholm
said.
Motorists may still feel
a crunch because it takes a
few days to ramp up oper-
ations, but she said there is
no reason to hoard gasoline.
“We know that we have
gasoline; we just have to get
it to the right places,” she
said.
S&P’s Oil Price Infor-
mation Service put the
number of gas stations
encountering shortages at
more than 1,000.
“A lot of that is because
they’re selling three or four
times as much gasoline
that they normally sell in a
given day, because people
do panic,” said Tom Kloza,
an analyst with S&P. “It
becomes a self-fulfi lling
prophecy.”
The pipeline runs from
the Texas Gulf Coast to
the New York metropol-
itan area. The states most
dependent on the pipeline
include Alabama, Georgia,
Tennessee and the Caro-
linas, Kloza said.
In Virginia, 7.7% of the
state’s nearly 3,900 gas sta-
tions reported running out
of fuel May 11, according
Chris Carlson/Associated Press
A customer helps pumping gas at Costco, as other wait in line, on Tuesday, May 11, 2021, in Charlotte, North
Carolina. Colonial Pipeline, which delivers about 45% of the fuel consumed on the East Coast, halted operations
last week after revealing a cyberattack that it said had aff ected some of its systems.
to Gasbuddy.com, which
tracks supply. In North Car-
olina, 8.5% of almost 5,400
stations were out, the com-
pany said.
There were scattered
reports of higher gaso-
line prices, but prices were
rising even before the pipe-
line incident heading into
the busy summer driving
season. Nevertheless, Gra-
nholm warned gas sta-
tion owners, “We will
have no tolerance for price
gouging.”
To ease brief shortages,
the White House is consid-
ering temporarily waiving
a law that says ships deliv-
ering products between
U.S. ports must be built and
manned by Americans.
The Transportation
Department also is relaxing
some workforce require-
ments and enlisting rail-
roads to deliver fuel inland.
And the Environmental
Protection Agency lifted
some fuel quality require-
ments on an emergency
basis.
“We’re looking at every
Judge dismisses NRA bankruptcy case
By JAKE BLEIBERG
and MICHAEL R. SISAK
Associated Press
DALLAS — A fed-
eral judge dismissed the
National Rifl e Association’s
bankruptcy case Tuesday,
May 11, leaving the pow-
erful gun-rights group to
face a New York state law-
suit that accuses it of fi nan-
cial abuses and aims to put
it out of business.
The judge was tasked
with deciding whether the
NRA should be allowed to
incorporate in Texas instead
of New York, where the
state is suing in an eff ort to
disband the group. Though
headquartered in Virginia,
the NRA was chartered as
a nonprofi t in New York in
1871 and is incorporated in
the state.
Judge Harlin Hale said in
a written order that he was
dismissing the case because
he found the bankruptcy
was not fi led in good faith.
“The Court believes the
NRA’s purpose in fi ling
bankruptcy is less like a
traditional bankruptcy case
in which a debtor is faced
with fi nancial diffi culties
or a judgment that it cannot
satisfy and more like cases
in which courts have found
bankruptcy was fi led to
gain an unfair advantage in
litigation or to avoid a regu-
latory scheme,” Hale wrote.
His decision followed 11
days of testimony and argu-
ments. Lawyers for New
York and the NRA’s former
advertising agency grilled
the group’s embattled top
executive, Wayne LaPierre,
who acknowledged put-
Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press, File
National Rifl e Association Executive Vice President and CEO Wayne LaPi-
erre speaks Feb. 29, 2020, at a conference. Federal Judge Harlin Hale an-
nounced his decision Tuesday, May 11, 2021, to dismiss the NRA’s bank-
ruptcy case, after 11 days of testimony and arguments. Lawyers grilled
LaPierre, who acknowledged putting the NRA into Chapter 11 bankrupt-
cy without the knowledge or assent of most of its board and other top
offi cers.
ting the NRA into Chapter
11 bankruptcy without the
knowledge or assent of
most of its board and other
top offi cers.
“Excluding so many
people from the process of
deciding to fi le for bank-
ruptcy, including the vast
majority of the board of
directors, the chief fi nan-
cial offi cer, and the general
counsel, is nothing less than
shocking,” the judge added.
LaPierre pledged in a
statement to continue to
fi ght for gun rights.
“Although we are dis-
appointed in some aspects
of the decision, there is
no change in the overall
direction of our Associa-
tion, its programs, or its
Second Amendment advo-
cacy,” LaPierre said via
the NRA’s Twitter account.
“Today is ultimately about
our members — those who
stand courageously with the
NRA in defense of constitu-
tional freedom. We remain
an independent organiza-
tion that can chart its own
course, even as we remain
in New York to confront
our adversaries.”
Lawyers for New York
Attorney General Letitia
James argued that the
case was an attempt by
NRA leadership to escape
accountability for using the
group’s coff ers as their per-
sonal piggybank. But the
NRA’s attorneys said it was
a legitimate eff ort to avoid
a political attack by James,
who is a Democrat.
LaPierre testifi ed that he
kept the bankruptcy largely
secret to prevent leaks from
the group’s 76-member
board, which is divided in
its support for him.
Hale dismissed the
NRA’s case without prej-
udice, meaning the group
can refi le it. However, he
warned that in doing so the
NRA’s leaders would risk
losing control.
The judge wrote that if
the case is refi led, he would
immediately take up “con-
cerns about disclosure,
transparency, secrecy, con-
fl icts of interest” between
NRA offi cials and their
bankruptcy legal team.
He said that the lawyers
“unusual involvement” in
the NRA’s aff airs raised
concerns that the group
“could not fulfi ll the fi du-
ciary duty” and might lead
him to appoint a trustee to
oversee it.
The NRA declared
bankruptcy in January, fi ve
months after James’ offi ce
sued seeking its dissolution
following allegations that
executives illegally diverted
tens of millions of dollars
for lavish personal trips,
no-show contracts and other
questionable expenditures.
James is New York’s
chief law enforcement
offi cer and has regulatory
power over nonprofi t orga-
nizations incorporated in
the state. She sued the NRA
last August, saying at the
time that the “breadth and
the depth of the corrup-
tion and the illegality” at
the NRA justifi ed its clo-
sure. James took similar
action to force the closure
of former President Donald
Trump’s charitable founda-
tion after alleging he used
it to advance business and
political interests.
option we have across the
federal government and all
of the federal agencies,”
Granholm said.
In Georgia, Gov. Brian
Kemp suspended state taxes
on motor fuels through May
15. Georgia collects a gas-
oline tax of 28.7 cents per
gallon and a diesel tax of
32.2 cents per gallon.
“It will probably help
level the price at the pump
off for a little while,” Kemp
said.
However, he urged
people not to hoard gaso-
line, saying he expects the
situation to be resolved
soon.
“You don’t need to
go out and fi ll up every
5-gallon can you’ve got,”
the governor said.
Scattered gas stations
in metro Atlanta were out
of fuel May 10 and 11. In
Georgia, nearly 6% of about
6,400 stations had run out
of fuel, Gasbuddy.com said.
In Florida, drivers in
some areas faced long lines,
and 3% of gas stations had
run out.
The state’s governor,
Ron DeSantis, declared a
state of emergency May
11 in response to the gas-
oline. The move activates
the Florida National Guard,
as needed, and directs state
emergency management
offi cials to work with fed-
eral and local offi cials.
Dave Gussak drove from
one station to the next in
Tallahassee, Florida, in
search of gas, seeing a line
nearly a mile long at the
pumps outside a Costco.
He eventually passed a sta-
tion with gas on the way
to Florida State University
where he works.
“This is insane,” he said.
Irena Yanava’s tank
was about half full, but she
wasn’t about to take chances
as she sat in her car at the
same Tallahassee gas station.
“I know that I’ll be
needing it soon, so why
U.S. job openings soar to
highest level on record
By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER
AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON —
U.S. employers posted a
record number of avail-
able jobs in March, illus-
trating starkly the desper-
ation of businesses trying
to fi nd new workers as
the country emerges from
the pandemic and the
economy expands.
Yet total job gains
increased only modestly,
according to a Labor
Department report issued
Tuesday, May 11. The fi g-
ures follow an April jobs
report last week that was
far weaker than expected,
largely because companies
appear unable to fi nd the
workers they need, even
with the unemployment
rate elevated at 6.1%.
Job openings rose
nearly 8%, to 8.1 mil-
lion in March, the most
on records dating back to
December 2000, the gov-
ernment said. Yet overall
hiring that month rose less
than 4% to 6 million. The
hiring number is a gross
fi gure, while the gov-
ernment’s jobs report —
which said 770,000 jobs
were added in March —
uses a net total. Tuesday’s
report is known as the Job
Openings and Labor Turn-
over Survey, or JOLTS.
A separate survey of
small businesses by the
National Federation of
Independent Business
found that 44% had jobs
they couldn’t fi ll, also a
record high.
The NFIB and JOLTS
“add to evidence from the
April employment report
that labor shortages are
widespread, pushing up
prices and potentially
acting as a brake on the
recovery,” said Michael
Pearce, an economist at
Capital Economics.
Job postings rose in
most industries, including
restaurants, bars and
hotels; manufacturing;
construction; and retail.
They fell in health care
and transportation and
warehousing.
The enormous number
of openings will likely
add fuel to a political dis-
pute about whether the
extra $300 in weekly fed-
eral unemployment aid,
on top of a state payment
that averages about $320,
is discouraging those out
of work from seeking new
jobs. Many Republicans
in Congress have argued
that it is, and several states
have threatened to cut off
the $300 payments.
President Joe Biden,
who included the extra
money in his $1.9 trillion
rescue package approved
in March, disputed that
the $300 supplemental
payment is to blame. But
he also urged the Labor
Department to work
with states on renewing
requirements that those
receiving aid must search
for jobs and take a posi-
tion if off ered. The job
search rule was suspended
during the pandemic.
Leigh Perkins, of Orvis fame, dies at 93
By WILSON RING
Associated Press
The man who trans-
formed the Vermont-based
Orvis company from a
niche fl y-fi shing supply
company into a global
retailer of outdoor supplies,
apparel and protector of
the environment has died.
Leigh H. Perkins was 93.
The Sunderland-based
Orvis company says Per-
kins died May 7 in Monti-
cello, Florida. The cause of
death was not released.
An online tribute pub-
lished on the company’s
website said Perkins was a
lifelong outdoorsman who
hunted or fi shed more than
250 days a year into his 90s
who had a reverence for
nature and conservation.
The company says that
Perkins began donating 5%
of pre-tax profi ts to con-
serving fi sh and wildlife.
While Orvis is based
in Sunderland, not far
Now Open for Dine In
BRINGING
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PRODUCTS AT
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PRICING TO
EASTERN
OREGON
from the headwaters of the
Batten Kill — one of the
most famous trout streams
in the state — the compa-
ny’s reach goes across the
world.
“He followed that fl y rod
to all corners of the world
and he made connections
and relationships to both
places and people across
the globe,” Simon Perkins,
Leigh Perkins’ grandson
and the current president of
Orvis, said Tuesday, May 11.
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