Oil, gas and chemical plants and pipelines in the path of Hurricane Laura appear to have had limited damage, with the exception of a BioLab chemical leak west of Lake Charles. While hundreds of thousands of residential, business and industrial customers were without power, but the area averted worst-case predictions of a 20-foot storm surge. It came in at about a 10-foot surge. There is some damage to some facilities, but it “appears to be somewhat light," U.S. Secretary of Energy Daniel Brouillette said in a Thursday afternoon briefing. "It is not significant in nature, meaning that the operations of these facilities will probably continue in very short order," he told NOLA.com. Federal and state agencies, along with BioLab Inc., are trying to determine the cause of the leak. The top concern is widespread power outages, said Brouillette, a Louisiana native. Local power companies were joined by about 20,000 crewmen from across 27 states to speed the return of power to critical infrastructure, commercial and residential customers. The Citgo and Phillips 66 refineries had minor damages, but had shut down ahead of the storm as a precaution. A restart will depend on when power is restored. The Colonial Pipeline - an artery that carries gasoline and other fuels from Texas and Louisiana refineries to markets in the central and northeast - never lost power and will ramp back up to normal levels, the company confirmed. (Source: NOLA.com 08/27/20)
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