Fracking Issue Focus Of Interim Study
Fracking subject of Oklahoma legislative interim study
By Rick Green
Concerns over water pollution in and around the Salt Fork River in north-central Oklahoma took center stage Tuesday in an interim legislative study about the oil and gas industry practice of hydraulic fracturing.
Fish kills have been reported on the river in Kay County, and some residents say their water has become polluted, said Rep. Steve Vaughan, R-Ponca City, who led the study.
“This has been a traumatic last couple of months for me,” Vaughan said. “I’ve spent a lot of time on this. I’ve been out there on that river. I’ve been in those air boats. I’ve been going to disposal wells. I’ve been talking to people who live close to the river whose wells have gone dry or are contaminated.”
Jack Klinger, 76, of Tonkawa, said he has lived near the river his whole life, but his well water only recently became too salty to use.
“I’d like to know why after 70-something years of living on the river we have all this pollution stuff,” Klinger said. “The water in our property is no good. We can’t use it. Something has to be leaking. Something has to be getting into it in order to do that.”