{"id":9477,"date":"2012-09-06T03:42:22","date_gmt":"2012-09-06T08:42:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=9477"},"modified":"2012-12-27T13:39:30","modified_gmt":"2012-12-27T19:39:30","slug":"texas-needs-oklahoma-limestone-bores-into-sensitive-aquifer-to-get-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2012\/09\/06\/texas-needs-oklahoma-limestone-bores-into-sensitive-aquifer-to-get-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Needs Oklahoma Limestone, Bores Into Sensitive Aquifer to Get It"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Joe Wertz \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n

An aggregate mining operation underway near Mill Creek in South-Central Oklahoma.<\/p>\n<\/div>

There are about a dozen operations currently mining or planning to mine in the area of Mill Creek in Northern Johnston County, which is fed by the Arbuckle-Simpson Aquifer, perhaps the state\u2019s most sensitive water resource.<\/p>

The limestone in the aquifer is some of the best in world. So good, it\u2019s even an ingredient in toothpaste.<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s apparently a phenomenal place to get aggregates,\u201d Amy Ford, of Citizens for the Protection of the Arbuckle-Simpson Aquifer<\/a>, says. \u201cTXI<\/a>, which is Texas. Martin-Marietta<\/a>. There\u2019s U.S. Silica<\/a>. Some of them are from out of country. When we originally starting kind of discussing this, I was surprised by the varying locations that they came from.\u201d<\/p>

<\/p>

It\u2019s no coincidence that most of those companies are based in Texas.<\/p>

The Dallas-Fort Worth area desperately needs the rock to feed its construction needs. Most of the mining operations in the underground layer of waterlogged stone and sand are based out of state, and more are on the way.<\/p>

Texas companies produce about a fifth of the nation\u2019s supply of concrete mix.<\/p>

\u201cOne of the major consumers of that concrete is the Dallas-Forth Worth metroplex,\u201d Richard Szecsy, President of The Texas Aggregates and Concrete Association<\/a>, says. \u201cBecause they\u2019re a huge consumer of concrete, they\u2019re also a huge consumer of aggregates. So, when you connect those dots, you\u2019re like, \u2018wow, they need a lot of rock.\u2019\u201d<\/p>

That rock is heavy, and the closer it is to where it\u2019s needed, the cheaper it is to transport. Dallas-Forth Worth has been relying on DFW-area resources for decades.<\/p>

[module align=”left” width=”half” type=”pull-quote”]<\/p>

“…all of a sudden people are starting to look at those natural resources and go, \u2018we don\u2019t have that many left in the ground. We may have ten to 15 years left. We need to go where the good rock is,\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

– Richard Szecsy, President of the Texas Aggregates and Concrete Association<\/h6>

[\/module]<\/p>\n

<\/h6>

\u201cWell, fast-forward 30-years later, and all of a sudden people are starting to look at those natural resources and go, \u2018we don\u2019t have that many left in the ground. We may have ten to 15 years left. We need to go where the good rock is,\u2019\u201d Szecsy says.<\/p>

And the good rock is on the Arbuckle-Simpson.<\/p>

It also doesn\u2019t hurt that Oklahoma currently has relatively few regulations when it comes to mining in aquifers.<\/p>

\u201cWhen you sever something from the ground in Texas, you pay severance tax. Oklahoma does not have a severance tax,\u201d Ford says.<\/p>

The Arbuckle-Simpson is a sole source aquifer, meaning it isn\u2019t fed by streams or rivers. It\u2019s only replenished as water seeps into it from the ground above, a process that can take many years.<\/p>

There\u2019s no specified limit in Oklahoma on how deep into the aquifer companies can mine.<\/p>

The Mill Creek area is dotted with abandoned quarries that have filled with crystal clear groundwater. And during<\/em> the mining process, the hole needs to remain dry.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Joe Wertz \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n

After this quarry near a U.S. Silica sand mining operation was mined out, clear blue aquifer water filled it in.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\u201cThere\u2019s only one operation that knows how much they\u2019re taking out. They\u2019ve never had to account for the water. So we really don\u2019t know, and we think it\u2019s a large quantity. And we\u2019re dealing with a finite amount of water that can be removed from the aquifer as a whole,\u201d Ford says. \u201cRight now, some of them are putting it in old mining pits. Some of them are putting it in recharge areas. And some of them are just putting it out on the ground.\u201d<\/p>

There are new regulations coming.<\/p>

A law passed in 2011 charges the Oklahoma Water Resources Board<\/a> with creating rules to make sure aquifer water isn\u2019t wasted. Those rules are being worked out now. As the process continues, streams in area are drying up.<\/p>

The companies put the blame on the ongoing drought, but as we report next week, some homeowners along Mill Creek just aren\u2019t buying that.<\/p>

 <\/p>

 <\/p>

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are about a dozen operations currently mining or planning to mine in the area of Mill Creek in Northern Johnston County, which is fed by the Arbuckle-Simpson Aquifer, perhaps the state\u2019s most sensitive water resource.The limestone in the aquifer is some of the best in world. So good, it\u2019s even an ingredient in toothpaste.\u201cIt\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":9485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[491,301,16,15,1],"tags":[429,428,445,447,444,446,427],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9477"}],"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=9477"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11998,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9477\/revisions\/11998"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}