Colonial Pipeline CEO retiring months after spills, fatal explosion

January 27, 2017 at 11:31 a.m. | Updated January 27, 2017 at 10:47 p.m.

by Associated Press

A plume of smoke rises from the site of an explosion on the Colonial Pipeline on Monday, Oct. 31, 2016, in Helena, Ala. Colonial Pipeline said in a statement that it has shut down its main pipeline in Alabama after the explosion in a rural part of the state outside Birmingham.
A plume of smoke rises from the site of an explosion on the Colonial Pipeline on Monday, Oct. 31, 2016, in Helena, Ala. Colonial Pipeline said in a statement that it has shut down its main pipeline in Alabama after the explosion in a rural part of the state outside Birmingham.

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (AP) - The longtime chief executive of a Georgia-based national pipeline network is retiring months after two spills and an explosion that killed an Alabama worker and constricted the region's supply of gasoline.

Colonial Pipeline CEO Tim Felt said in a news release Thursday that it was his decision to step down from the Alpharetta, Georgia company at the end of January.

Former AGL Resources CEO John Somerhalder will be the company's interim CEO.

The pipeline, which transports gasoline from the Gulf Coast to New York City, exploded in October while a central Alabama crew was making repairs related to a September spill that shut down fuel shipments for more than a week. One contractor was killed and five others injured.

The pipeline network provides almost 40 percent of the region's gasoline.

Upcoming Events