Salty, Oily Drinking Water Left Sores in Their Mouths. Oklahoma Refused to Find Out Why.
This is how power hides.
In the summer of 2022, months after Tammy Boarman and her husband, Chris, moved into their newly built “forever home” 30 miles from Oklahoma City, the plants in their yard began to turn yellow. The shrubs wilted, though Tammy watered them often. And the couple began to notice a salty taste in their drinking water.
The water came from a private well, drilled the year before, and they hoped that the bad taste would fade with time and with the help of a water softener.
But the problem grew worse. Their ice maker expelled large clumps of wet salt, which, when rubbed, dissolved into an oily, foul-smelling substance.
The couple knew that some oil and gas extraction took place nearby. Down dirt roads and behind stands of oak trees in their neighborhood, pump jacks nodded up and down, pulling up oil. This is a common sight in Oklahoma. Several studies estimate that about half the state’s residents live within a mile of oil and gas wells.
By the following summer, Tammy and Chris Boarman had been in touch with the state agency overseeing private water wells and began to fear these nearby oil operations had tainted their water, which they had largely stopped drinking after developing sores in their mouths. The couple submitted a complaint to the oil division of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, which regulates the state’s oil and gas industry and is responsible for addressing related pollution.
When Tammy Boarman first contacted oil regulators, she was hopeful state officials would find the source of the pollution and clean it up. For the next two years, the state repeatedly tested the Boarmans’ water for contaminants and found salt concentrations that made the water undrinkable and, at one point, toxic metals at levels high enough to endanger human health — strong signs of oil field wastewater pollution, according to agency testing.
But regulators repeatedly delayed or failed to conduct other tests recommended by the agency’s own employees to locate the pollution source, according to internal agency documents obtained by The Frontier and ProPublica through public records requests.
Despite Boarman’s pleas to regulators to do more, the agency would ultimately dismiss its earlier findings pointing to oil and gas pollution and close the couple’s case, leaving basic questions about the origins of the problem unanswered.
“For the longest time, we were so naive to everything,” Boarman said. “We thought things were going to get better.”
Chunks of salt expelled from Tammy and Chris Boarman’s ice maker. Courtesy of Tammy Boarman
The Boarmans’ water corroded their faucet. Courtesy of Tammy Boarman
State Delayed Testing to Find Pollution Source
The Boarmans’ home, a white modern farmhouse, sits in the middle of an aging oil field, one of several that surround Oklahoma City and that helped make Oklahoma one of the country’s leaders in petroleum production in the 1940s.
Today, the region is growing quickly, with a sought-after school system and affordable real estate. New subdivisions sprout on undeveloped land, and residents in more remote areas — such as where the Boarmans live — often rely on private water wells dug near newly built homes.
But …
This is how power hides.
In the summer of 2022, months after Tammy Boarman and her husband, Chris, moved into their newly built “forever home” 30 miles from Oklahoma City, the plants in their yard began to turn yellow. The shrubs wilted, though Tammy watered them often. And the couple began to notice a salty taste in their drinking water.
The water came from a private well, drilled the year before, and they hoped that the bad taste would fade with time and with the help of a water softener.
But the problem grew worse. Their ice maker expelled large clumps of wet salt, which, when rubbed, dissolved into an oily, foul-smelling substance.
The couple knew that some oil and gas extraction took place nearby. Down dirt roads and behind stands of oak trees in their neighborhood, pump jacks nodded up and down, pulling up oil. This is a common sight in Oklahoma. Several studies estimate that about half the state’s residents live within a mile of oil and gas wells.
By the following summer, Tammy and Chris Boarman had been in touch with the state agency overseeing private water wells and began to fear these nearby oil operations had tainted their water, which they had largely stopped drinking after developing sores in their mouths. The couple submitted a complaint to the oil division of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, which regulates the state’s oil and gas industry and is responsible for addressing related pollution.
When Tammy Boarman first contacted oil regulators, she was hopeful state officials would find the source of the pollution and clean it up. For the next two years, the state repeatedly tested the Boarmans’ water for contaminants and found salt concentrations that made the water undrinkable and, at one point, toxic metals at levels high enough to endanger human health — strong signs of oil field wastewater pollution, according to agency testing.
But regulators repeatedly delayed or failed to conduct other tests recommended by the agency’s own employees to locate the pollution source, according to internal agency documents obtained by The Frontier and ProPublica through public records requests.
Despite Boarman’s pleas to regulators to do more, the agency would ultimately dismiss its earlier findings pointing to oil and gas pollution and close the couple’s case, leaving basic questions about the origins of the problem unanswered.
“For the longest time, we were so naive to everything,” Boarman said. “We thought things were going to get better.”
Chunks of salt expelled from Tammy and Chris Boarman’s ice maker. Courtesy of Tammy Boarman
The Boarmans’ water corroded their faucet. Courtesy of Tammy Boarman
State Delayed Testing to Find Pollution Source
The Boarmans’ home, a white modern farmhouse, sits in the middle of an aging oil field, one of several that surround Oklahoma City and that helped make Oklahoma one of the country’s leaders in petroleum production in the 1940s.
Today, the region is growing quickly, with a sought-after school system and affordable real estate. New subdivisions sprout on undeveloped land, and residents in more remote areas — such as where the Boarmans live — often rely on private water wells dug near newly built homes.
But …
Salty, Oily Drinking Water Left Sores in Their Mouths. Oklahoma Refused to Find Out Why.
This is how power hides.
In the summer of 2022, months after Tammy Boarman and her husband, Chris, moved into their newly built “forever home” 30 miles from Oklahoma City, the plants in their yard began to turn yellow. The shrubs wilted, though Tammy watered them often. And the couple began to notice a salty taste in their drinking water.
The water came from a private well, drilled the year before, and they hoped that the bad taste would fade with time and with the help of a water softener.
But the problem grew worse. Their ice maker expelled large clumps of wet salt, which, when rubbed, dissolved into an oily, foul-smelling substance.
The couple knew that some oil and gas extraction took place nearby. Down dirt roads and behind stands of oak trees in their neighborhood, pump jacks nodded up and down, pulling up oil. This is a common sight in Oklahoma. Several studies estimate that about half the state’s residents live within a mile of oil and gas wells.
By the following summer, Tammy and Chris Boarman had been in touch with the state agency overseeing private water wells and began to fear these nearby oil operations had tainted their water, which they had largely stopped drinking after developing sores in their mouths. The couple submitted a complaint to the oil division of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, which regulates the state’s oil and gas industry and is responsible for addressing related pollution.
When Tammy Boarman first contacted oil regulators, she was hopeful state officials would find the source of the pollution and clean it up. For the next two years, the state repeatedly tested the Boarmans’ water for contaminants and found salt concentrations that made the water undrinkable and, at one point, toxic metals at levels high enough to endanger human health — strong signs of oil field wastewater pollution, according to agency testing.
But regulators repeatedly delayed or failed to conduct other tests recommended by the agency’s own employees to locate the pollution source, according to internal agency documents obtained by The Frontier and ProPublica through public records requests.
Despite Boarman’s pleas to regulators to do more, the agency would ultimately dismiss its earlier findings pointing to oil and gas pollution and close the couple’s case, leaving basic questions about the origins of the problem unanswered.
“For the longest time, we were so naive to everything,” Boarman said. “We thought things were going to get better.”
Chunks of salt expelled from Tammy and Chris Boarman’s ice maker. Courtesy of Tammy Boarman
The Boarmans’ water corroded their faucet. Courtesy of Tammy Boarman
State Delayed Testing to Find Pollution Source
The Boarmans’ home, a white modern farmhouse, sits in the middle of an aging oil field, one of several that surround Oklahoma City and that helped make Oklahoma one of the country’s leaders in petroleum production in the 1940s.
Today, the region is growing quickly, with a sought-after school system and affordable real estate. New subdivisions sprout on undeveloped land, and residents in more remote areas — such as where the Boarmans live — often rely on private water wells dug near newly built homes.
But …
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