Gerald Herbert / AP

A fire still burns on Wednesday after a tugboat and barge hit a gas pipeline Tuesday evening in Perot Bay in Lafourche Parish, La., about 30 miles south of New Orleans.

NEW ORLEANS -- A gas pipeline burned Wednesday morning in a bayou south of New Orleans hours after it was hit by a tug boat pushing an oil barge, but authorities say no oil appeared to be leaking from the barge.

Coast Guard Cmdr. Russ Bowen said it appears the barge is intact and none of its cargo of crude oil was leaking, though there were patches of oily sheen in the area. The Coast Guard was investigating whether those sheens were related to the accident.

A plume of smoke rising from the site could be seen from downtown New Orleans Wednesday morning. Bowen said authorities planned to allow the gas to burn itself out before approaching for a closer inspection. The area is thinly populated and no evacuations had been ordered.

Four people aboard the 47-foot tug Shanon E. Settoon were injured, one severely, in the collision Tuesday at about 6 p.m. CDT. Water at the collision site is very shallow.

The 19-mile section of pipeline was carrying liquefied petroleum gas. It had been isolated from other conduits by its owner, San Ramon, Calif.-based Chevron, so only what was inside could burn.

"All crew members were able to exit the tug; the captain reportedly suffered second to third-degree degree burns," the Coast Guard said in a news release early Wednesday.

The barge was holding 92,000 gallons of crude oil, the Coast Guard said. The tug boat had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel. Settoon Towing of Pierre Part, La., lists the tug among its vessels on its website.

Bowen said it was believed that the diesel fuel aboard the tug had burned up.

WWL-TV reported that the tug's captain was transferred to the burn center at Baton Rouge General Hospital.

It was not immediately known who owns the 154-foot oil barge.

The area is along the northern reaches of Barataria Bay, which was heavily affected by oil from the BP spill in 2010. It is mostly small communities where people often make their living from the sea, either working in the oil and gas industry or as fishermen.

The 92,000 gallons the Coast Guard says was being carried by the barge is a fraction of the millions of gallons that spewed into the Gulf of Mexico during the 2010 spill.

The region where the fire was burning is crisscrossed by pipelines and wellheads are a common sight in the shallow waters of the bayou and bay shoreline.

Bowen said it's not unusual for tugs to operate in shallow areas. "That's just the nature of coastal Louisiana," he said.

Beyond that, he said he couldn't comment on why the accident happened.

Bayou Perot was the scene of an explosion and fire on a specialized oil rig in December 2010 in which three men were injured. The explosion happened while the men were welding and there was no pollution, the Coast Guard reported.

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This story was originally published on Wed Mar 13, 2013 5:19 AM EDT

U.S. gas prices have hit a four-month high with 32 straight days of increases at the pump bringing misery to spring breakers and job hunters.

The Automobile Association of America said Monday that the national average for a gallon of regular is $3.73 -- 43 cents more than a month ago -- with prices topping $4 in California and Hawaii.

"It's become the perfect storm," AAA spokeswoman Nancy White said.

White and other experts blamed a series of factors for the uptick that started in mid-January:

-- Some refineries are switching over from winter to summer fuel, which is more expensive to produce.

-- A Hess refinery in New Jersey that supplies 7.5 percent of the Northeast's gas is closing.

-- Midwinter maintenance has led some refineries to go offline temporarily.

-- Demand for gas is up, fueled in part by the return of more people to working.

The price hikes come at a bad time, however, for Americans who are still out of work or facing smaller paychecks because of higher payroll taxes.

"Try the bad gas prices while trying to find a job," one unemployed driver vented on the Facebook page for GasBuddy.com, which tracks fuel prices around the nation.

Patrick DeHaan, an analyst with the website, said many cities have seen increases of 8 cents to 20 cents in just the past week. "This is what we usually see in late winter, early spring, but prices have started to rally two months earlier than usual," he said.

He said his firm's unscientific user surveys suggest that the pinch at the pump could lead to less travel over spring break in March and April and changes in plans for Memorial Day and even the summer.

"There are people predicting that it will go over $5 a gallon," DeHaan said. "I don't believe that's possible, but it shows how concerned motorists are."

On the Facebook page, many posters were worried that the rise in gas prices could cause an economic meltdown.

"When you raise prices on gas people will stop spending money because they need to get back and forth to work and pay their bills each month," one wrote.

"If it's this high right now, imagine what it's gonna be here in a few months!" another fretted.

White of AAA said that based on historical trends, prices will likely continue to rise into the warmer months and driving season, but not at the same pace they did in 2011 and 2012, when developments in Libya and Iran caused big spikes.

"That is not so much part of the picture right now," she said. "But that could change should something else happen overseas."

This story was originally published on Mon Feb 18, 2013 3:24 PM EST

Updated at 9:16 p.m. ET: Officials have called in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to investigate a thunderous explosion that killed two and left 27 homes uninhabitable in a south Indianapolis neighborhood late Saturday night, NBC affiliate WTHR reported.

The blast was reported shortly after 11 p.m. near South Sherman Drive and Stop 11 Road on the south side of Indianapolis, WTHR said.

"Multiple houses engulfed in flames. Even the police officers that got to the scene before I did were not sure what happened. Kind of a surreal scene, even for police officers," Marion County Sheriff John Layton told the station.

Emergency crews rescued Glenn and Gloria Olvey from their home, the Indianapolis Star reported, and were reportedly “battered, bruised and sore.”

Matt Kryger / The Indianapolis Star

Two houses were leveled by an explosion that sparked a fire and killed two people early Sunday morning. The powerful nighttime blast shattered windows, crumpled walls and could be felt at least three miles away.

The cause of the explosion and fires wasn't immediately clear, but Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard dismissed reports of a possible plane crash as he arrived at the scene. Fire officials said separately that investigators would be checking whether natural gas was possibly involved but they had no further details on what was behind the blast that sent tall flames skyward.

Ballard said at least two homes had been destroyed by the powerful blast and that the damage went on "for blocks on end."

Read more from NBC affiliate WTHR

Television video showed tall flames shooting overhead and spreading to numerous homes shortly after the blast reported around 11 p.m. Saturday. Hours after the flames pierced the skyline, firefighters had begun containing the flames and thick clouds of gray smoke billowed overhead.

Matt Kryger / AP

Authorities say a loud explosion has leveled a home in Indianapolis and set four others ablaze in a neighborhood, causing several injuries.

"It was so strong that it clearly had an effect for blocks," Ballard said from the area. Beyond the burning homes there was wider damage in the neighborhood: windows shattered in nearby homes, walls caved in and garage doors were knocked off their hinges.

Residents were told to evacuate to a nearby elementary school and people could be seen shivering in white blankets handed out to them as they moved off.

Ballard said investigators will have to see what they find in coming days.

"We're going to need some comforting in the next few days," he said.

Earlier, Capt. Rita Burris with the Indianapolis Fire Department told The Associated Press that the scene looked like something out of a war zone. "It's really messy," she said soon after it began.

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The fight for fuel after Superstorm Sandy is getting increasingly desperate.

A motorist was arrested Thursday after he tried to cut in line at a gas station in Queens and pointed a pistol at another motorist who complained, authorities said.

Sean Bailey, 35, of Queens, was arrested on charges of menacing and criminal possession of a weapon, said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. It wasn't clear whether he had a lawyer.

If convicted, Bailey could face up to 15 years in prison.

Damage from the storm has forced many gas stations to close and has disrupted fuel deliveries, causing long lines at the stations that remained open. Power outages kept many pumps out of service.

Gas-seekers traded tips via social media and roamed the region for hours in search of functioning pumps. Police officers helped maintain order at the few stations in operation.

At a Gulf station in Newark, N.J., a line of vehicles stretched for about two miles. Dozens of people with empty red gas canisters also stood in the line that snaked around the station.

Betty Bethea, 59, had been waiting almost three hours as she approached the front of the line of cars, and she brought reinforcements: Her kids were there with gas cans, and her husband was behind her in his truck. 

"It is crazy out here — people scrambling everywhere, cutting in front of people. I have never seen New Jersey like this," Bethea said.

Adrees Latif / Reuters

A woman covers her face in frustration while waiting for hours in line to get fuel outside at a gas station in the New York City borough of Queens on November 1, 2012.

Numerous reports of confrontation at the stations that were still open surfaced on Twitter and YouTube.

A fistfight broke out Wednesday between customers at the Getty station on Route 59 in Monsey, N.J., the only functioning station in the area, Chiam Tzik, the station's manager, told Newsday. On Thursday morning, traffic stretched for at least half a mile on both sides of the road.

In New York state, Yonkers Mayor Michael Spano signed an executive order rationing gas to 10 gallons per customer effective immediately.

At the heart of the fuel supply crunch is the fact that Sandy has devastated the energy industry's ability to move fuel into and around the New York City region, particularly the harbor, by any of the three means that normally supply the area: tanker imports from abroad; pipeline shipments from the U.S. Gulf Coast; or refinery production from the mid-New Jersey area. 

The good news is none of these issues appears to be especially long-lasting. Power is gradually being restored in New Jersey, where much of the key infrastructure is located and New York Harbor barge traffic is expected to resume later Thursday. A key pipeline should resume limited deliveries on Friday. Even flooded refineries should eventually resume production.

But that's little comfort for those who need fuel now to get to work or to help heat their homes as a cold front moves in.

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Andrew Burton/Getty Images

A girl holds jerry cans while waiting in line at a gas station on Thursday in Hazlet township, N.J. Superstorm Sandy, which has left millions without power or water, continues to effect business and daily life throughout much of the eastern seaboard.

Gas station lines streching a mile or more show the next challenge faced by those recovering from Hurricane Sandy. The fuel shortage is becoming severe: In New Jersey, 75 percent of stations were closed on Thursday, CNBC reported. New York City taxi companies began pulling cabs off the street due to the shortage. But all those gas cans you see drivers filling raise a question: Are gadgets partly to blame for the gas shortage?

To be sure, distribution challenges — such as blocked roads, power outages at distribution facilities and stations — are the main culprits. But pent-up demand created by gas-guzzling portable generators isn't helping. Powerful smartphones are useless without electricity, which means that millions of area residents can't make phone calls without gasoline right now.

Making matters worse: Generator sales have exploded in recent years. One company estimates that four times as many households have such backup generators today, compared to 1999.

Back then, storm victims suffering power outages simply lit candles and waited for power. Today, portable generators promise to keep life relatively normal even during extended outages, but not without a cost.

"There is a new baseline of demand," said Art Aiello, spokesman for spokesman for Generac Power Systems Inc., the nation's largest generator seller. "In the wake of a power outage, portable generators are what everyone goes to."

In some parts of the country, that means, literally, everyone, said research Manager Lucrecia Gomez of the Frost & Sullivan market research firm. She said generator sales soared in 2011, influenced by a series of weather-driven outages, and she believes that "in high-income areas, almost every house has at least one portable generator."

Also read: Northeast may see long gas lines for a week

A good-sized generator that can run a refrigerator and a few other appliances in a house costs about $750, Aiello said — a small price to pay for a piece of normalcy, and to avoid ruined food, during a long power outage. But it also devours gasoline. It takes roughly a gallon of gas an hour to fuel such a generator with a moderately heavy load. That means it can burn through more than one auto tank full of gas in 24 hours. One way to look at it: homeowners without power in the northeast are using as much gas to power their homes as it would take to drive from Boston to Philadelphia, every single day. All those "road trips" create a lot of demand.

"It's absolutely a contributor" to the gas station lines, Aiello said, because generators need a lot of it. "That is one of the limitations of portable generators ... and we are having a run on gas now."

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The portable generator market rise began with Y2K, Aiello said, and every disaster since has spurred adoption — there were sales spikes after Hurricane Katrina and the New York City blackout, for example. Before Y2K, only about 3 percent of American homes had generators, according to an investor presentation by Generac. By 2011, that figure had risen to about 12 percent nationally, the company estimated, and it figures to go higher this year. In an earnings report issued last week, Generac said sales climbed 25 percent last quarter compared to the previous year during the same stretch. And it expects sales to jump 40 percent for the year. (The company's stock soared 19 percent when Wall Street resumed trading on Wednesday).

Backup power may sound like a luxury for yuppies, and market penetration is higher in wealthier areas. But with the demise of landline phones, which always proved robust even in power outages, gas-powered generators are now considered essential for having access to the outside world during an outage. The National Center for Health Statistics says 27 percent of American households were "cell only," in 2010, with percentages higher in affluent areas, and the cord-cutting rate was torrid. By next year, landline penetration could fall to 50 percent.

"We're a very connected world. If folks use their cell as their primary phone, that's huge if you can’t recharge your phone," Aiello said. "The general fragility of the grid is a problem, but in severe weather we are asking more and more of it. We have an analog grid in a digital world."

Gadget users running on fumes can take a little comfort — but only a little — in the words of Sal Risalvato, executive director of the N.J. Gasoline, Convenience, Automotive Association. He told CNBC on Thursday that he expects the gas shortage situation to linger for a couple more days, but then resolve itself with a fairly quick domino effect.

“I think you’re going to see some easement over the weekend,” said Risalvato. “You’ll see normalcy next week. You’ll see things are going to happen all at once. Power is going to be restored. Roads are going to be clear. It’s like you’re drain is clogged and all of a sudden it’s unclogged.”

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Rainier Ehrhardt / AP

A sign for $2.99 a gallon gasoline is seen at a convenience store Spartanburg, S.C., Friday. Oil prices plunged as bleak reports on U.S. job growth and manufacturing heightened worries about a slowing global economy.

There's some good news behind the discouraging headlines on the economy: Gas is getting cheaper. At least two states had stations selling gas for $2.99 on Friday and it could fall below $3 in more areas over the weekend.

A plunge in oil prices has knocked more than 30 cents off the price of a gallon of gas in most parts of the U.S. since early April. The national average is now $3.61. Experts predict further decline in the next few weeks.

If Americans spend less filling their tanks, they'll have more money for discretionary purchases. The downside? Lower oil and gas prices are symptoms of weakening economic conditions in the U.S. and around the globe.

On Friday, oil prices plunged nearly 4 percent as a bleak report on U.S. job growth heightened worries about a slowing global economy and waning oil demand. The unemployment rate rose to 8.2 percent from 8.1 percent. Sobering economic news from China and Europe also contributed to the drop.

West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark for oil in the U.S, fell $3.30, or 3.7 percent, to $83.23 per barrel, the lowest price since early October. The drop adds to a 17 percent decline in May.

U.S. drivers should feel some relief, even if they're worried about jobs. Auto club AAA says pump prices fell nearly 5 percent in May, the largest monthly percentage drop since November. Some station owners in South Carolina on Friday even presented drivers with a gift at the start of summer driving season: $2.99 gas.

Dan Durbin, president of R.L. Jordan Oil Co., says low wholesale prices allowed at least seven of the company's Hot Spot stations in Spartanburg, S.C., to lower the price to $2.99 per gallon. South Carolina also has the lowest gas tax in the nation.

Durbin predicted that more of his stations and some competitors will lower prices once they sell off higher-priced supplies currently in their tanks.

Gas also fell below $3 in Harrisonburg, Va. It could hit $2.99 or lower in Georgia, Missouri and Oklahoma perhaps as soon as this weekend, according to Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service.

Gas hasn't been below $3 per gallon anywhere in at least two months.

Analyst Patrick DeHaan of the website GasBuddy.com expects prices to fall below $3 a gallon soon in Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, which benefit from proximity to refining hubs.

Kloza predicts that motorists will pay an average of about $3.50 per gallon or lower by Father's Day. And drivers on the West Coast should see even bigger declines than other parts of the country. Their prices had been rising because of a gas shortage.

Gas prices should stabilize in July and August, Kloza says.

It's still questionable how much lower gas prices will boost consumer confidence.

Phil Flynn, an analyst for The Price Futures Group, believes falling gas prices could give consumers a psychological boost. But that could evaporate if hiring doesn't pick up and stock markets keep swooning.

"If you don't have a job, it doesn't matter if gasoline prices are $5 or $2 a gallon," he said.

Those who can afford a new car payment will appreciate falling gas prices. Automakers reported selling 1.3 million cars and trucks in May. Auto sales remain a bright spot in the U.S. economy. Still, those sales won't reverse a decline in gas demand in the U.S. because the new models are more fuel efficient than older ones heading to the scrap heap.

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