Natural gas incident leaves over 17K without service in Mississippi, officials say

NEW ALBANY, Miss. — An incident during routine maintenance on a natural gas line led to several injuries and over 17,000 people without service, according to the Mississippi Public Service Commission (MPSC).

The incident occurred on an Atmos Energy line in Lee County Wednesday morning.

“Our prayers are with the injured workers, their families, and all of those affected by this incident. The safety of our communities is our top priority, and we appreciate the prompt response of emergency services and Atmos Energy in containing the situation and responding,” said MPSC Chairman Chris Brown of the Northern District in a statement.

“We also want to recognize the Mississippi Public Service Commission Pipeline Safety Division for being on the scene and working to ensure the safety of workers and the public. The Pipeline Safety Division has completed their investigation and released the site back to Atmos. Our office continues to work closely with Atmos Energy, emergency responders, cities, towns and ratepayers to ensure that affected areas receive support.”

Cities and towns in Lee County that were affected by the incident included: Belden, Guntown, Plantersville, Pontotoc, Saltillo, Shannon, Tupelo, and Verona. MPSC encouraged residents to check for updates from Atmos Energy on their Lee County natural gas outage page here.