Blount told the Wall Street Journal he learned about the ransomware attack on May 7 when a ransom note was discovered on a control room computer. He authorized paying $4.4 million to the hackers because he did not want to cause long-term disruptions to east coast gasoline supplies, and it was unclear how much of the system had been breached. In response to the event, lawmakers in Congress are calling for new laws that would require companies responsible for critical supplies to inform the government in the event of a disabling hack. Colonial accounts for about 45% of fuel supplies to the east coast.