Teenagers spotted the largest gas pipeline spill in US history

Photo by LOGAN CYRUS / AFP via Getty Images

Two teens on four-wheelers noticed a huge fuel spill in a nature preserve and contacted authorities.

The Oehler Nature Preserve outside Charlotte, North Carolina, was the location of the leak in the Colonial line. It was recently revealed that the leak was about 2 million gallons.

A consent order with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality led to an updated estimate of the damage being given by the company. 63,000 gallons of gasoline was released after the spill was discovered.

The spill is 30 times larger than first thought. The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality says it's the largest fuel spill in the country. According to E&E, this is the largest gas spill since a storage tank let out 2.3 million gallons of gasoline in East Chicago, Indiana in 1986.

Almost 10 million gallons of water came in contact with the oil, as well as 75 percent of the 2 million gallons that was spilled. The testing has confirmed no impacts to water supply wells.

There are a number of reasons why the line is notorious. It takes 100 million gallons of fuel a day to travel between Texas and New York. The gas price went up and traffic got stuck outside gas stations due to the five-day shut down of the gas line. The debacle shows how vulnerable the nation's energy infrastructure is to hackers.

When it comes to detecting spills, most pipes aren't very advanced. The case of Colonial was that most leaks were found by people.