What's the point of it all if they're just going to poison you?

So, this could be a long story but I'm going to try not to do that.

Basically we live on 40 acres on a section divided into said acreage lots. All the other sections around us are wheat fields. We're in the middle of oil drilling. In fact they just drilled on the section next to us. Now we are on one corner of this section and on the opposite corner someone moved in and tried to set up an electronic waste recycling plant. It didn't work out and they eventually went to jail (though for something unrelated). They accumulated acres of electronics first and it's been sitting outside in the rain for years and years. DEQ will do nothing about it.

Fast forward to my husbands lab. It's changing to testing drinking water from what it did before. As they develop their methodology and stuff my husband has been taking random samples from where ever we go. Church, Parents houses, school, our house, etc.

None of those samples turned up anything except....ours. Our house shows hexavalent chromium in the water.

So here I have been busy trying to be the best permie I can be and I've been watering everything, including my animals and children, with poison.

And yes, I know it could be a false positive and such. We will be doing more official testing and testing our neighbors as well to see what is going on here.

For the first time in my life I'm feeling defeated. I've been beat.

Oh how horrible! I'm so sorry elle!  

I could not remember hearing about hexavalent chromium before, so I looked it up, and then I remembered.  Scary stuff.  Sad for you, Elle.  Wish I had better things to say.  Perhaps you'll have to go all Erin Brockovich or something on somebody to get something done about it.  Good luck either way with whatever you and your husband end up doing.    

Roberto pokachinni wrote:I could not remember hearing about hexavalent chromium before, so I looked it up, and then I remembered.  Scary stuff.  Sad for you, Elle.  Wish I had better things to say.  Perhaps you'll have to go all Erin Brockovich or something on somebody to get something done about it.  Good luck either way with whatever you and your husband end up doing.    

Somewhat ironically I work as a paralegal. :D

Oil drilling one side, electronic waste the other.

Time to sell and move. Maybe you can generate some money by selling to an oil company. I know it is not ethical but somebody will do it for sure.

You can fight with them but that will destroy your life you are trying to live.

It is only hexavalent chromium at the moment, once that electronic waste starts to break down to the core and leach god knows what to the aquifer, what is gonna happen.

Gurkan Yeniceri wrote:Oil drilling one side, electronic waste the other.

Time to sell and move. Maybe you can generate some money by selling to an oil company. I know it is not ethical but somebody will do it for sure.

You can fight with them but that will destroy your life you are trying to live.

It is only hexavalent chromium at the moment, once that electronic waste starts to break down to the core and leach god knows what to the aquifer, what is gonna happen.

You're preaching to the choir on that electronic waste. I fought a bitter battle against them. I know what is in all that garbage and it has been a worry.

How could I sell this place when I would have to disclose the poisoning of the water supply. Without water this land is worth nearly nothing.

Isn't it better to sell it while disclosing the issue (assuming the test is official and all that) than it is to live there and drink poison until you die?  The water won't get any better so it will only get harder to sell.  Come live somewhere with lots of natural water and no oil wells (wooded portions of MN, WI, MI, NY and New England to name a few).  

As Gurkan suggested, oil companies won't care about your water test.  Probably neither will the wheat farmers...

Mike Jay wrote:Isn't it better to sell it while disclosing the issue (assuming the test is official and all that) than it is to live there and drink poison until you die?  The water won't get any better so it will only get harder to sell.  Come live somewhere with lots of natural water and no oil wells (wooded portions of MN, WI, MI, NY and New England to name a few).  

As Gurkan suggested, oil companies won't care about your water test.  Probably neither will the wheat farmers...

The blessing with the wheat is that while it's mono-cropped to death, it's organic. Basically there is so little profit in winter wheat farming in WY they don't spray it with anything.



Where we are, it has family. ALL the family and we have big families. So while I wouldn't mind moving to another state, exactly, taking my kids (and let's face it, us) from a big, loving, active family would be devastating as well.

Ok, fair enough, I understand the family thing.  But you can still move off of the toxic piece of land to somewhere in the neighboring area.  Maybe it could even further your permaculture dreams.  Or give you a different challenge but one that's within your control.

I still think "Get out while the gettin's good (or at least fair)"

Mike Jay wrote:Ok, fair enough, I understand the family thing.  But you can still move off of the toxic piece of land to somewhere in the neighboring area.  Maybe it could even further your permaculture dreams.  Or give you a different challenge but one that's within your control.

I still think "Get out while the gettin's good (or at least fair)"

I'm not against that. We've looked. It's hard though if you're trying to avoid oil. We know of a few places that weren't drilled because they had nothing. I suppose we just have to wait for something to open up.