Hundreds of gallons of crude oil spill after a tanker flips in Leslie County.

An emergency environmental response team from Ashland was called to clean-up the mess.

Officials say the spill came close to affecting drinking water for people who live nearby and it is possible the trucking company could face fines.

Crews say the driver of the oil tanker swerved to miss an oncoming car on Coon Creek Road around 9:00 A.M. Wednesday. That is when the truck loaded with crude oil flipped into a ditch. It was coming from a nearby well.

The fire department was able to get to the scene quickly and keep the oil from running across the road and into the creek.

"This makes the second accident that we've had within the last two weeks with the same company," said Leslie County Emergency Management Director James Couch.

The driver, Louis Murphy, was taken to the hospital as a precaution.

Couch says another tanker owned by Usher Transport crashed into the creek about six months ago, and another leaked oil for several miles on Christmas Eve.

Officials at the Louisville based company sent crews down to assist in the clean-up and say they are committed to making sure the water is not affected by the accident.