Oklahoma farm suffers extensive environmental damage as local family battles oil companies over contaminated land and water sources.
Mark Olalde, reports for ProPublica, and Nick Bowlin for Capital & Main.
In short:
- Salt water leakage from an oil well on the Ledgerwood's farm killed vegetation and contaminated their drinking water.
- The family struggled to get accountability from oil companies, which often evade cleanup costs through bankruptcy.
- The estimated cleanup cost for Oklahoma's unplugged wells is about $7 billion, with insufficient funds set aside by the oil industry.
Key quote:
"We don’t get these years back. There’s no way to pay for that. We’ll never have back what we had."
— Stan Ledgerwood, Oklahoma farmer
Why this matters:
The contamination of land and water can lead to a cascade of adverse effects, not just on the immediate agricultural output but also on local wildlife and ecosystems. The potential seepage of pollutants into groundwater, for example, poses a significant risk to human health, affecting communities' access to clean drinking water.
Related: Dead livestock and poisoned water — Texas farmers sue over PFAS contamination
