We have some breaking news out of Leslie County.

There has been an accident involving a tanker truck on the Hal Rogers Parkway near the Hyden Spur. The tanker truck is leaking some type of fuel and we are told the EPA has been called to the scene.

The Hal Rogers Parkway is closed westbound from Exit 56 in Hazard to just prior to the junction of Kentucky 118 in Leslie County. Traffic is being detoured to old Kentucky 80 and the parkway will be closed for several hours
yesterday's accident involving a pickup truck and a fuel tanker on the Hal Rogers Parkway in Leslie County.

Officials say the driver of the pickup truck was arrested, and is charged with driving under the influence.



Tate police say 33 year old Lillo Howard of East Bernstadt is being charged with driving under the influence of drugs and driving under the influence on a suspended license.

The tanker, driven by 46 year old Ronald Looney of Grundy, Virginia, spilled more than five thousand gallons of fuel into the creek by the highway, and that has one family concerned

Janice Sizemore and her husband, Eddie were on their way home from the grocery store when they were stopped by traffic on the hall Rogers Parkway Wednesday evening.

“As we were coming back toward our house a state policeman passed us pretty fast so we knew there had to be an accident,” Sizemore says.

A pick up truck, driven by Howard, crossed in to the other lane causing the gas tanker driven by Ronald Looney to crash, releasing gasoline into this small creek.

State trooper Terry Brewer says Howard was under the influence of drugs.

“The officer obtained a drug test on the subject just to see what it is,” Brewer says. “Normally that's sent off and it takes a little while for it to get back before we know exactly what the levels were or if there were levels.”

Brewer says it's too early to determine what drugs Howard was taking.

“He was having a hard time staying awake,” Brewer says. “I would say it was some kind of painkillers, such as methadone or something like this.”

Sizemore says she was not too worried about whether or not she might have had to evacuate her home.

“It’s just the fact that no one was killed I think that was our main concern,” Sizemore says.

Sizemore was concerned with wildlife and stray animals possibly drinking some of the water.

“But I’m sure the people over the accident made sure that they tried to stop it before it got in to (much of) the water ,” Sizemore says.

Crews say they are working as fast as they can to complete the clean-up.

Environmental protection officials say they will likely have someone there to cleanup the spill for another week.

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The Hal Rogers Parkway is open again in both directions in Leslie County after a tanker accident that spilled thousands of gallons of fuel onto the road and into a nearby creek.

Police say the driver of a pick up truck crossed the center line near the Hyden exit on the parkway around 3:00 Wednesday afternoon and as the driver of the Kentucky Oil tanker swerved, police say he overturned.

Officials say it could have been a lot worse. Police say the drivers of both vehicles were taken to the hospital with minor injures. This area was blocked off for several hours while emergency crews worked to remove the fuel. At least 5,000 gallons of fuel leaked from the tanker.

"Spilling gasoline, diesel, and kerosine into the neighboring creeks and across the roads ways," says Captain Scott Miller with the Kentucky State Police.

Emergency Management Director James Couch says, "The clean up is going to be a long process more than likely, a lot of the fuel spilled into the water ways here. It's also in the soil."

EPA and other officials are concentrating on the creek that flows along the parkway.

The clean up crews say they are prepared to work throughout the night and possibly even several more days to make sure all of the contaminants are out of the water.

Sand is absorbing the fuel on the road. Yellow barrels in the water skim off the gasoline, kerosene, and diesel that float on top of the water. And the clean up will continue after that.

"They will block the creek flow so nothing else goes down stream and they will take a vacuum truck which is basically a big vacuum cleaner and they will skim everything off the top of the water, all the contaminants until everything is clean," says Couch. He says the fuel could affect wildlife, but should not harm any sources of drinking water.

Police say they are still working to find out what led to this accident, and they are not ruling out drugs or alcohol being involved. Officials say when the road does reopen, people need to keep an eye out for the clean up crews that will work around the clock along the shoulder of the road.

A second accident happened in the same area just before 11:00pm involving first responders. Couch says some were taken to the hospital, no word on the severity of their injuries. He says this will slow the reopening of the road.

The victims names have not been released for either of the accidents at this time.