{"id":28106,"date":"2017-03-23T12:46:49","date_gmt":"2017-03-23T17:46:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=28106"},"modified":"2017-03-24T11:58:09","modified_gmt":"2017-03-24T16:58:09","slug":"action-to-protect-small-creek-pits-mining-companies-against-oklahoma-community-worried-about-water-supply","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2017\/03\/23\/action-to-protect-small-creek-pits-mining-companies-against-oklahoma-community-worried-about-water-supply\/","title":{"rendered":"Action To Protect Small Creek Pits Mining Companies Against Oklahoma Community Worried About Water Supply"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_28107\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-28107\" alt=\"Rancher and water advocate Gary Greene owns land near Pennington Creek. \" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/03\/20170316-tishomingo002_WEB.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/03\/20170316-tishomingo002_WEB.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/03\/20170316-tishomingo002_WEB-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/03\/20170316-tishomingo002_WEB-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/03\/20170316-tishomingo002_WEB-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Joe Wertz \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rancher and water advocate Gary Greene owns land near Pennington Creek.<\/p>\n<\/div><p><a href=\"https:\/\/waterdata.usgs.gov\/usa\/nwis\/uv?07331300\">Pennington Creek<\/a> in south-central Oklahoma is the only source of drinking water for the town of Tishomingo. Residents there are worried limestone mining operations threaten the creek. Now, the city council is taking on the companies doing the digging.<\/p><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/314115555&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=false\" height=\"150\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p><p><!--more--><\/p><p>In February, the Tishomingo City Council voted to approve<b> <\/b>a <a href=\"http:\/\/tishomingo.ok.gov\/meetingsagendas2017.html\">new ordinance<\/a> limit<b>i<\/b>ng how much groundwater mining companies can withdraw near Pennington Creek. The vote was unanimous. At the contentious meeting, council members didn\u2019t take kindly to the company\u2019s threats to file a<b> <\/b>lawsuit.<\/p><p>\u201cI have grave concerns about what all has taken place tonight. And the amount of force that has come against a tiny little place in southern Oklahoma is unbelievable to me,\u201d Council member Rhonda Brown said just before the vote.<\/p><p>The companies aren\u2019t interested in water. But it\u2019s in their way as they mine for the high quality limestone locked in the uniquely protected Arbuckle-Simpson Aquifer, <a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/tag\/pit-mining\/\">as StateImpact has reported. <\/a><\/p><p>The water is vital to Tishomingo. In an interview a few weeks after the city council meeting, Mayor Tom Lokey said city officials are just trying to protect it.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_28124\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 619px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-28124\" alt=\"Aggregate mining company Vulcan's mining operation near Pennington Creek in south-central Oklahoma. \" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/03\/20170316-tishomingo082_WEB.jpg\" width=\"619\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/03\/20170316-tishomingo082_WEB.jpg 619w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/03\/20170316-tishomingo082_WEB-500x334.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/03\/20170316-tishomingo082_WEB-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/03\/20170316-tishomingo082_WEB-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 619px) 100vw, 619px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Joe Wertz \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Aggregate mining company Vulcan&#39;s mining operation near Pennington Creek in south-central Oklahoma.<\/p>\n<\/div><p>\u201cIt has been the water supply for the City of Tishomingo since its inception in the 1850s,\u201d Lokey says. \u201cIt is our only water supply, so we\u2019re very protective of it.\u201d<\/p><p>Lokey grew up in Tishomingo, and he\u2019s seen Pennington Creek change over the last several years.<\/p><p>\u201cThe Mill Pond area, which is one of the two main swimming holes, is no longer really as viable as it was at one time as a swimming hole. There\u2019s places in the creek where you can literally step across it sometimes now, where when I was young those places did not exist,\u201d Lokey says.<\/p><p>The Arbuckle Simpson aquifer feeds the waters of Pennington Creek that cascade over a natural deck of limestone, smoothened over time, at an area called Slippery Falls.<\/p><p>\u201cI remember more water coming down through here,\u201d says local rancher and water advocate Gary Greene. \u201cThis seems to be a reduced flow. But when you see all that coming across that rock there, it\u2019s just gorgeous.\u201d<\/p><p>Greene isn\u2019t sure the reduced flow is due to mining. It could be a lack of rain. But he\u2019s worried more mines could mean trouble for Pennington, and he points to Mill Creek, a few miles west, which has much more mining near it.<\/p><p>\u201cI was at Mill Creek about 15 years ago, and I\u2019d like to go back to that same spot and see if the water is the same, but everybody says it has diminished tremendously,\u201d Greene says.<\/p><p>The state\u2019s water regulator spent the last five years coming up with <a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2015\/09\/24\/judge-gives-go-ahead-for-arbuckle-simpson-aquifer-pumping-limits\/\">rules to address the aquifer\u2019s depletion<\/a>. The recently finalized rules limit how much water can be consumptively used per acre. \u2018Consumptively used\u2019 is the key term. The mines <i>withdraw<\/i> much more than the limit. But then they put the same water back in the aquifer.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_28123\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-28123\" alt=\"The Slippery Falls area of Pennington Creek north of Tishomingo. \" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/03\/20170316-tishomingo059_WEB1.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/03\/20170316-tishomingo059_WEB1.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/03\/20170316-tishomingo059_WEB1-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/03\/20170316-tishomingo059_WEB1-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/03\/20170316-tishomingo059_WEB1-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Joe Wertz \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Slippery Falls area of Pennington Creek north of Tishomingo.<\/p>\n<\/div><p>\u201cThere hasn\u2019t been any evidence that shows that mining in that area has an effect on the water level in Pennington Creek,\u201d says Elizabeth Nichols, an attorney representing Arbuckle Aggregates, a limestone mining company that\u2019s planning a new mine near Pennington Creek.<\/p><p>\u201cI know that they have recharging ponds. So what happens is they move the water from the pit that they\u2019re mining \u2014 they move the water over into the recharge pond, and in the recharge pond the water soaks back into the aquifer,\u201d Nichols says.<\/p><p>Nichols\u2019 argument is simple: The mines are engaging in a legal activity, effectively regulated by state rules the company is following. She says precipitation dictates the flows of streams and the amount of water in the aquifer, not mines. And she says Tishomingo\u2019s ordinance limiting how much water can be withdrawn from the aquifer won\u2019t hold up in court.<\/p><p>\u201cThis would be a regulatory, unconstitutional taking,\u201d Nichols says. \u201cWhen a town or a county or any government entity creates a regulation that prevents a landowner from using their property, without compensation, which is a constitutional right.\u201d<\/p><p>Arbuckle Aggregates and another company, Vulcan, that already has a mine near Pennington Creek, have both filed lawsuits against Tishomingo over the ordinance.<\/p><p>The mining companies say the city ordinance would make it nearly impossible for them to do business. They\u2019ve asked for an injunction, and there\u2019s a hearing in early April. In the meantime, the ordinance technically went into effect Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pennington Creek in south-central Oklahoma is the only source of drinking water for the town of Tishomingo. Residents there are worried limestone mining operations threaten the creek. Now, the city council is taking on the companies doing the digging.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[491],"tags":[429,509,423,448,508,427],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28106"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28106"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28122,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28106\/revisions\/28122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}