Mr. Thom and the Arkansas River

[Hometown]

Dear Mr. Thom:

I read a story about your plan for the Arkansas River in today's paper.  I want to tell you that I am impressed that you and your associates spent 30 days in Tulsa evaluating our river, I really am.  

I grew up and spent most of my first twenty-one years within miles of the Arkansas River and I never so much as took a walk along that body of water.  Oh, don't get me wrong, my family and I loved swimming and boating and just enjoying the sun.  We swam at Crystal Lake and Newblock Park and later Lortondale II's 5300 Club.  We flocked to lakes and rivers and vacationed at the beach in Massachusetts and California.  We loved water but we never even considered spending a day at the Arkansas River because the river was a smelly no man's land.

Little has changed.  The old refineries still emit smells that drift over various nearby neighborhoods depending on the prevailing wind.

Mr. Thom, you say, the refinery smell is not a factor.  The Environmental Protection Agency and at least three lawsuits brought by Tulsa neighborhoods disagree.

The problem isn't just an unpleasant smell but instead the hazardous chemicals that those odors contain.  One of our refineries has been known as a "high priority violator" by the EPA and has a long history of hazardous emissions.  In a lawsuit filed by 20 residents of Owen Park against our other refinery, a jury found that the facility had been a "nuisance" and in noncompliance with the Clean Air Act.  One plaintiff in that suit, a long time Owen Park resident commented that she grew up "... thinking everyone died of cancer."

Refineries are the nation's major source of tons of toxic volatile compounds like cancer-causing benzene and it is only reasonable that some Tulsans would be concerned about the refineries and health risks.

Mr. Thom, I agree that Tulsa should honor our rich history and connection with the oil industry but the best way to do that is to support the oil business that is in Tulsa today not by building decorative screens to hide two of the oldest refineries in the United States.

We stand at a moment in history when our President has stated his desire to build new refineries.  I'm inclined to believe that developing new state of the art refineries located at a safe distance from our urban core is where we need to start any river and downtown development.

And finally, Sir, you may know what "you" really need.  Artists tend to be formulaic and there are probably constants in your work that spring from your own personal path, but 30 days in Tulsa does not qualify you to tell us what we really need.

What do we really need?  We need a comprehensive study of the health risks posed by our refineries before we pour hundreds of millions of public dollars into a new project sited next to those refineries.