A fragile aquifer, a proposed mine and a fight over Oklahoma’s water
State regulators are reviewing a proposal to expand sand mining over the Arbuckle-Simpson aquifer, despite Oklahoma’s moratorium on new mines in the area.
Judge orders poultry companies to pay for cleanup in longstanding Illinois River lawsuit
The judgment also permanently limits the application of bird waste to fields in the region.
It smelled like a ‘buried body.’ A small town was overwhelmed by fumes from an oil waste disposal facility
Residents near Enid say the smell of an oilfield waste disposal site made them feel sick. State officials weren’t sure who was in charge of enforcement.
Toxic wastewater from oil fields keeps pouring out of the ground. Oklahoma regulators failed to stop it.
Salt water laced with cancer-causing chemicals, a byproduct of oil and gas drilling, is spewing from old wells. Experts warn of a pollution crisis spreading underground and threatening Oklahoma’s drinking water.
Oklahoma is asking a federal judge to fine big poultry companies millions for polluting the Illinois River
The state is asking the court to cap the application of bird waste, penalize poultry companies for violating the state’s anti-pollution law and order them to pay for cleanup.
While some warn of groundwater depletion in Oklahoma, efforts to tighten monitoring fail again
Penalties for not reporting or over-using groundwater are scarce. The state had never fined a permit holder for overusing water before last year.
Oklahoma Attorney General still wants to work out a deal with poultry companies to protect the Illinois River as decades-long lawsuit drags on
“My observation is that poultry would rather litigate and appeal and delay,” Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said. “It’s economically beneficial. I wish they would change that.”
GRDA reverses course, agrees to give flooding study files to federal regulators
On Wednesday, an attorney for the Grand River Dam Authority sent another letter to federal regulators saying that the state agency would turn over flood study records, while calling the request “unreasonable and oblivious” in light of the Trump Administration’s deregulatory bent.
