Across Oklahoma, oilfield wastewater has continued to surface from the ground — even as regulators failed to contain it. This investigation examines how oversight fell short, how contamination spread and how families were left to navigate the consequences.
State regulators discovered strong signs of oil pollution, including high levels of salt and toxic metals, in one family’s drinking water. But for two years, they repeatedly delayed basic tests to find the culprit — then closed the case.
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.
The judgment also permanently limits the application of bird waste to fields in the region.
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.
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.
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.
Penalties for not reporting or over-using groundwater are scarce. The state had never fined a permit holder for overusing water before last year.
