Tennessee just had its second-largest crude oil spill ever, with 200,000 gallons leaking into rural town

A burst pipeline has leaked more than 200,000 gallons of crude oil in the small town of Henderson, Tenn., making it the second-largest crude oil spill in state history. 

The Mid-Valley Pipeline Company, a roughly 1,000-mile crude oil pipeline, is the source of the leak, about 130 miles southwest of Nashville. The pipeline dumped about 4,800 barrels of crude oil, which is equivalent to 201,600 gallons, into the surrounding area and into a local creek in Chester County last Wednesday, according to the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Safety Materials Administration, also known as PHMSA. 

The Mid-Valley Pipeline Company transmission route starts in Texas, passes through Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio, and ends in Michigan. Mid-Valley Pipeline Company is owned by Energy Transfer Partners. 

Crude oil spills of this magnitude are rare. The largest crude oil spill recorded in the state was an approximately 357,000-gallon spill in Clarksville in 1988, and it was also on the Mid-Valley Pipeline Company system, according to PHMSA data that dates back to 1986. 

Initial reports suggest that a mower hit and ruptured the pipeline.

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