veinsofgod-washpost by Alex Thompson

Private Story

veinsofgod-washpost

Copyright Alex Thompson 2024

Updated Jul 2017

Location wyoming, usa

Topics environment

The first time I came to Wyoming, I thought I was working on a project about a small, rural Wyoming town that had been plagued by water contamination for years and somehow fought to become the first town able to prove their water contamination came from hydraulic fracturing. Major media outlets ignored the story and, having just dealt with the massive natural gas storage facility blowout in Porter Ranch, I bought a plane ticket to Wyoming to see what was happening for myself. I had heard this was happening in other places, too, but it was all largely forgotten by the American public. When my plane landed, the ground was covered in snow. It was late March and I was not prepared for this weather - something my friends in Pavillion would later descibe to me as odd for this time of year and the part of the state they're in. After spending the night in Casper, Wyoming - the largest city in the state with a population of just over 60,000 - I drove my rental car to Pavillion, a small community of roughly 240 people, many of them ranchers and farmers. I had a beer at the local bar and the owner told me how he used to work in the gas field nearby and how they were told the cement casings that stopped gas from leaking out only needed to appear to do their job. He told me where to find the farmers who had water like diesel fuel so I drove my car 3 miles from the center of town, along a ridge covered in ancient petroglyphs, between abandoned lots full of beat up Mustangs and farming equipment and into the driveway of Louis Meeks who first discovered the problems in Pavillion. He, along with many of his neighbors, formed the Pavillion Area Concerned Citizens (PACC) who lobbied the EPA to come inspect their water. After the EPA's lead investigator, Dominic DiGiulio, brought his team out to study the area, they quickly found traces of deadly chemicals often used in hydraulic fracturing. Shortly after publishing a draft report on the Pavillion water, the EPA was forced to abandon the study and while many speculate on reasons why, it's still unclear what caused it. All that is clear is that DiGiulio would be fired from his position at the EPA. He eventually went on to Stanford University to complete the Pavillion study and establish the first proven case of water contamination as a result from Hydraulic Fracturing. The residents there, however, have seen little in the way of any change in their situation. Louis Meeks' water still smells like diesel fuel. Cathy Fenton, whose husband John is a farmer-turned-environmental activist, still can't taste or smell. Rhonda Locker has neuropathy from all of the years of unknowingly consuming neurotoxins found in their water and the Toyan family has just recently stopped their cattle from dying unexpectedly by bringing in pure water from town. While each resident has their own problems, I quickly realized the problems came as a result of a state government that has consistently turned the other cheek to contamination in order to profit from the oil and gas industry that runs rampant across the state. From Pavillion, I moved north to Deaver where I met Doug and Eugenie MacMullan, two goat farmers who lost most than 60% of their goat population to unkown reasons. On their property sit two oil wells that spew hydrogen sulfide - otherwise known in the industry as sour gas - a deadly neurotoxin that attacks your nervous system and kills you. That was years ago, and to this day they still don't know what happened although their constant headaches lead them to blame the oil wells. Near Casper, the first oil field in Wyoming surrounds the town of Midwest. The Salt Creek Oil Field was once a major employer in the area but due to the fall of the price of oil in recent years, the economic downfall has been swift. Many empty houses that were once filled with workers fill the streets. In 2016, a natural gas well leaked at the nearby Midwest School but the corporation who operated the field could not find the source. The students were evacuated and forced to finish out the school year 40 miles away in Casper. Still, in a town built and controlled by an all-powerful fossil fuel industry, tensions run high when asked about it. Over and over again residents would tell me of the conspiracy to shut down the Midwest School and that the leak was not real but fabricated by officials in Casper who wanted to close the school for good. I guess that's why Wyoming is the way it is. So many residents rely on the fossil fuel industry for economic support, they'll do anything to keep them from going away; even if it means drinking contaminated water and destroying one of the most pristine states in the United States.