University of Oklahoma Graduate College Red Dirt Resilience Enduring Narratives of Oklahoma Environmental Activism a Thesis Subm
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UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE RED DIRT RESILIENCE ENDURING NARRATIVES OF OKLAHOMA ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS By MORIAH B. STEPHENSON Norman, Oklahoma 2016 RED DIRT RESILIENCE ENDURING NARRATIVES OF OKLAHOMA ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM A THESIS APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY BY ______________________________ Dr. Misha Klein, Chair ______________________________ Dr. Sean O’Neill ______________________________ Dr. Noah Theriault © Copyright by MORIAH B. STEPHENSON 2016 All Rights Reserved. Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Anthropology Department of the University of Oklahoma for supporting me in completing this thesis. To my committee, Dr. Misha Klein, Dr. Sean O’Neill, and Dr. Noah Theriault. I am extremely grateful for your guidance, suggestions, and feedback throughout the research and writing process. To the environmental activists in Oklahoma who took time to talk with me and who are doing incredibly brave and difficult work, I cannot fully express my gratitude. This project would not have been possible without the work and input of multiple activists and scholars. Most of all, I am fully indebted to the activist communities that shared their stories with me and to my advisor, Dr. Misha Klein, who provided invaluable input, support, and advice. I want to extend a special thank you to my sister, my mother, and my partner who took the time to read my thesis and contribute feedback. I also want to thank my grandma, pa-pa, and father for offering constant emotional support and for showing me the openness and beauty of Oklahoma land. iv Table of Contents: I. Introduction: Red Dirt Research and Activism II. Red Dirt and Black Gold: Oklahoma History III. Sooners and Wildcatters: Oil, Gas, and Oklahoma Identity IV. Red Dirt Resistance: Uncovering Counter-Narratives V. Red Dirt Activism: Transforming Narratives into Action VI. Red State Repression: Oil, Gas, and Controlling Processes VII. Conclusion: Revisiting the Color Red v Abstract My research explores the relationship between dominant narratives of Oklahoma identity and counter-narratives of Oklahoma identity. I consider how the dominant narrative of Oklahoma identity is constructed in relationship to the oil and gas industry, a powerful force in Oklahoma life. The dominant narrative of Oklahoma identity frames oil and gas as a source of resilience, progress, and a benefit to all. Histories and experiences of people who have challenged or been persecuted by the oil and gas industry are often silenced or erased. Examples of this are histories of Indigenous peoples, oil workers, socialists, and many different activist communities. Environmental activists working within Oklahoma employ multiple strategies to illuminate counter- narratives of Oklahoma history and identity; however, the powerful presence of the oil and gas industry in Oklahoma creates challenges for activists. Not surprisingly, at times activists reproduce dominant narratives of statehood unknowingly and struggle to effectively organize in the face of repression and social and cultural control. Despite this, environmental activists challenge dominant narratives of Oklahoma identity through counter-narratives and action. vi Chapter One Introduction: Red Dirt Research and Activism My grandmother lived in the same house for the entirety of her life, the house that she was born in. She lived in a small town in central Oklahoma for 88 years until she died of cancer in 2015. The house began as one room and a foundation. Throughout her life the house grew and changed and so did the land surrounding it. A railroad and highway brought jobs, and the construction of another highway took them away. Mass agriculture brought drought that destroyed lives and land, and people tried to bring the land back by planting rows and rows of trees, trees that cast happy shadows on much of my childhood. Approximately 50 years later, the 1999 May 3rd tornado, the largest tornado in recorded history, stole the trees away again. A cellar had been dug in the red clay earth; flash floods filled it with red dirt water. During the tornado my grandma and my pa-pa were stuck in the flooded cellar. A tree fell on top of the cellar trapping them in the little space left between at least six feet of water and the cellar door. I remember that night vividly. My father called me and told me that he was trying to get to my grandma and pa-pa, but he could not because all the roads were blocked off. After the tornado, my grandparents were able to get out of the cellar, and eventually my father was able to find a path to them. We were lucky; the house was not too damaged. We lost part of the roof, a shed, and almost all of the trees. The majority of the town was not lucky. Most of the houses were destroyed, the old downtown buildings were nothing but rubble, the elementary school was left in shambles, and the water tower toppled down flooding our neighbor’s home. 1 For months after the tornado, my grandma and pa-pa went to get water and food from the Regional Food Bank tent set-up in the downtown area of town. One day while we were getting lunch, my pa-pa boasted to his friends because he was quoted in the paper. The Daily Oklahoman, Oklahoma City’s main paper, told the story, quoting my pa-pa, "Lo and behold, it [The cellar] was full of water," he said. "We could get down four steps and squatted down and stayed there for about 20 minutes and then everything got quiet." (McNutt 1999). I was proud, having my pa-pa and grandma in the paper, even if it was for something tragic. We mourned many things that summer but nothing more than the trees and the old downtown buildings. The shapes that danced over us were different after that. When my pa-pa first saw the trees mangled and fallen over he said to me, “It’s going to be a hot summer.” In just my short lifetime, the land surrounding my grandma’s house has changed drastically. Ten years after my Papa’s passing, the area that once was garden is covered with junk literally sinking into the earth and is being taken over by trees and plants. The forests that I explored as a child have been mostly cut down. There are new oil tanks, pump stations, and injection wells. The house itself sits empty cracking and falling apart. From the highest point of my grandma’s town, the hill behind my grandma’s house, you can see for miles: farmland, churches, the new water tower, seemingly endless rolling prairie, and the most beautiful spring colors. You can watch thunder storms roll in and see Oklahoma sunsets, stars, and fireflies light up the night sky. In recent years, you can increasingly see fracking flares, injection wells, and hydraulic fracturing sites, as well. From 2012 to 2014, Logan County, the county where my family’s hometown is located, increased in saltwater disposal intake volume by 2507% (Monies 2015), and oil 2 wells began popping up all along the land. Earthquakes quickly began to rise as well, and even my conservative grandma said to me in private, “You know, they say it’s the drilling causing the earthquakes.” The they that she spoke of was unclear. Perhaps, she heard about the correlation between earthquakes and fracking on the news. Maybe, someone in town mentioned it to her, but she said this statement to me in a whisper as if it was something she should not say. She also said it to me with some amount of uncertainty because while the correlation seemed strikingly obvious to people living near disposal wells, powerful state leaders employed multiple strategies to confuse people about the relationship between hydraulic fracturing and earthquakes. From 2008 to 2016, earthquake occurrences dramatically increased in Oklahoma. Before 2008, Oklahoma had one to two earthquakes greater than 3.0 magnitude per year. In 2014, Oklahoma experienced 585 earthquakes greater than 3.0 magnitude. In 2015, Oklahoma averaged two earthquakes of 3.0 magnitude or greater per day (Galchen 2015). The state is now considered the “earthquake capital of the world” (Prupis 2016). Scientists attribute this dramatic increase in earthquakes to the rise in injection well disposal of wastewater produced from hydraulic fracturing (fracking) (Wertz 2015). Geological evidence suggested this correlation as early as 2010. There is evidence that industry officials working in collusion with the state government, University of Oklahoma (OU) President David Boren, and the Oklahoma Geological Survey (OGS) strategized and utilized rhetoric that obscured the correlation between injection well disposal and earthquakes up until 2015 (Soraghan 2015). The information of this cover-up came to light through the investigative reporting of Mike Soraghan who utilized Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests 3 to obtain access to e-mails between state leaders. The e-mails exposed the ways in which industry leaders influenced rhetoric and media strategies surrounding the cause of earthquakes in Oklahoma (Soraghan 2015). The majority of oil and gas development in Logan County occurred from 2012-2014, after industry leaders were already aware of the impacts of wastewater injection well disposal. Now, the state has officially recognized the correlation between injection well disposal and earthquakes (Delatorre and Givens 2015); however, years of politicized rhetoric obscuring the correlation have impacted how many people in Oklahoma understand the rise in earthquakes. These media strategies have led to confusion about the relationship between earthquakes and oil and gas, and this confusion persists today. I have great love for my grandma’s hometown, a place that I consider home.