Kinder Morgan Pipeline Spill

About the Spill

The leak occurred when an old patch on the pipeline ruptured, spilling at least 369,000 gallons of gasoline into the ground about 1,000 feet from Brown’s Creek. The spill was one of the largest gasoline spills in South Carolina's history. High quantities of petroleum were detected in the creek — and soon the pollution made its way to other local creeks and lakes as well.

Concerned that initial petroleum cleanup efforts were inadequate, the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), Upstate Forever, and the Savannah Riverkeeper conducted independent water quality testing in Brown’s Creek tributary. They met repeatedly with the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (now SCDES) to urge it to require further steps to remediate the spill. They also provided SCDES with scientific evaluations of further remediation that needed to be done.

Clean Water Act Lawsuit

After state enforcement efforts failed to stop the flow of petroleum into the creek, the conservation groups took legal action in December of 2016. To enforce the Clean Water Act, SELC filed a lawsuit on behalf of Upstate Forever and the Savannah Riverkeeper in the U.S. District Court. The suit prevailed in an appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

UF’s victory in the U.S. 4th Circuit was appealed by Kinder Morgan to the U.S. Supreme Court, where it was effectively bundled with two other cases focused on similar water issues. At the time, the Court ultimately agreed that the Clean Water Act applies to water pollution that flows through groundwater, like the pollution at the Belton pipeline spill, and sent the case back to the Fourth Circuit court.