How is the jet fuel emergency affecting WA travelers and truckers this week?
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson declared an emergency this month after a fuel leak prompted the shutdown of the Olympic Pipeline and interrupted the transport of jet fuel to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
Ferguson’s emergency proclamation temporarily pauses and waives regulations on how long truckers carrying jet fuel can operate.
SeaTac relies on the Olympic Pipeline for deliveries of jet fuel. A disruption occurred after a leak near Everett was uncovered Nov. 11 during routine maintenance.
A Nov. 19 news release states that Ferguson’s proclamation ensures ample fuel supplies can reach the airport and that safe-driving measures are in effect.
“We are in close communication with our state and federal partners,” Ferguson said in the release. “This declaration will help the airport maintain its fuel supply while the pipeline is offline and limit disruptions to travelers.”
Sheri Call, president and CEO of the Washington Trucking Associations, said in an email that it’s unknown how long the proclamation might last. Conversations have indicated plans for two to three weeks, although that isn’t official and largely based on the pipeline’s repair and containment schedule, she said.
BP, which operates the pipeline, said in a Nov. 25 statement that recent testing indicated that there is not a leak in a 16-inch pipeline segment that had previously been turned off. It was restarted Tuesday morning.
There is, however, a leak in a 20-inch segment, a company spokesperson said. Plans for repair are in the works, according to the company, and a timeline will be disseminated when available.
It’s also unclear how many haulers are affected by the emergency proclamation, but Call noted that special clearance is required for airport deliveries, so it’s likely only those with such pre-clearance are involved.
Call said in a phone interview that the emergency declaration essentially calls for a waiver of truckers’ hours of service, meaning they’re authorized — at their own discretion — to extend hours to respond to the issue.
Such waivers are common in times of emergency, she said. For example, during firefighting efforts, there might be a waiver of service for fire-suppression and fuel deliveries. It’s up to individual companies to make sure that drivers don’t work past the point of fatigue, she said.
Drivers aren’t being asked to operate 24 hours a day, Call noted, and they’ll have time to sleep and take rest breaks. Because of the nature of the product they haul, she said that “these are some of the most well-trained, safe and credentialed drivers.”
“I feel confident that we’re going to get through this without incident,” she continued. “I think that probably the threat is more about being able to keep planes in the sky without adequate fuel supplies.”
WTA member Christensen Inc. is helping out with emergency-fuel hauling efforts.
Brandon Christensen, the company’s vice president of physical assets, pegged the number of trucks assisting in the effort at six, along with seven drivers. Christensen said the average driver shift length is 16 hours, and that three drivers are from out of town, such as from states like Oregon or Idaho.
“These guys have been flown in from other parts of the country to help out,” Christensen said in a Nov. 25 email. “We are happy to do our part to help maintain travel continuity for the Thanksgiving holiday.”
KIRO 7 reported Friday that truckers are working long hours to ensure SeaTac travelers can get to their Thanksgiving destinations.
One trucker told the outlet that everyone has been working as much as possible safely and legally, “taking their 10 hours off and getting back to it.” Another said they’d put in nearly 15 hours the prior day.
These drivers are transporting 10,000-gallon loads to SeaTac’s fuel farm, according to KIRO, and each run can last up to eight hours.
“We are looking for all the trucking capacity for jet-fuel hauling that we possibly can, and have put the word out to our members in connecting them with resources so that they can, if they’ve got the capacity, get involved in helping,” Call told McClatchy.
Ferguson’s communications director Brionna Aho said in a Friday evening email that, in addition to federal and state partners, their office is working closely with the Port of Seattle, which operates SeaTac. The proclamation is running as expected, she said, with more deliveries of fuel arriving at the airport.
Price hikes in retail gas and diesel costs can result from supply issues, Aho said at the time, but that hasn’t been witnessed thus far.
“We will continue to watch potential impacts on gas prices closely,” she continued, adding that the state’s Department of Commerce is coordinating with Oregon’s energy department on “fuel contingency planning and tracking of downstream impacts.”
Are there SeaTac delays due to pipeline shutdown?
Port of Seattle spokesperson Perry Cooper said in a Monday afternoon email that SeaTac isn’t seeing major flight impacts at the moment.
Airlines have done well in notifying travelers of flight changes, Cooper said. Most of SeaTac’s flights, about 70%, start or end at the airport, rather than being a connecting flight. That means travelers usually hear in advance from their airline about flight changes, so they don’t come to the terminal — leading to fewer lines at ticket counters, which can be an issue at connection-majority airports.
Still, FOX 13 reported Nov. 24 that some Washington travelers have faced delays and detours because of the pipeline’s fuel-supply problem ahead of Nov. 25, forecasted to be the year’s busiest travel day.
A Delta spokesperson said in a Saturday evening email that, while the airline is monitoring SeaTac’s fuel supply, there weren’t any operational impacts at the time. However, a Delta advisory published on Monday warned that schedule adjustments could be coming for passengers on international long-haul flights.
Delta followed up Tuesday morning with an update: The airline was no longer making fuel stops on certain long-haul flights and is “operating our full Seattle hub schedule.”
On Friday afternoon, a spokesperson for Alaska Airlines said via email that the airline wasn’t experiencing SeaTac disruptions. Contingency plans have been implemented, including “fuel management strategies such as tankering in fuel on inbound flights to Seattle, assessing tech stop options along certain routes to conserve fuel, and maintaining and expanding our trucking operation to bring in additional fuel supply.”
Both airlines said they’d communicate updates as the situation evolves.
This story was originally published November 25, 2025 at 10:00 AM.
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