Conservation In Oklahoma Essay

total of 283 million tons of coal were mined, providing about 64% of the state’s electrical production (Reese and Loughlin, 61).” Mining has caused severe environmental impacts ranging from the toxic chemicals seeping into the watershed, the altering of landscapes, and large amounts of waste (Reese and Loughlin, 61). New laws have been developed in order to reverse the negative trends from mining, which include the following: Abandoned Mine Land law, Open Cut Land Reclamation Act, Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (Reese and Loughlin, 62) Then the oil boom hit Oklahoma. The first oil find was an accident searching for salt near Salina in 1859 and it would take three more decades before drilling for oil was done purposely (Reese and Loughlin, 62). Bartlesville – Dewey oil field discovery, 1896, launched Oklahoma into the first oil boom; By 1920, Oklahoma was the largest oil producer in the world, created a record 278 million barrels of oil in 1927 alone (Reese and Louglin, 62). The number of wells peaked in the mid 1980’s and by 2000 only 50,000 wells remained active of the over 500,000 wells drilled in Oklahoma (Reese and …show more content…
Since statehood the extraction of resources within Oklahoma have been examples of horrible environmental disasters to examples of conservation efforts to protect the environment. The economy, culture, and politics of Oklahoma have been tied to the land.
The Sterling Evans uses the lyrics of “Oklahoma!”, although out of order, were used to highlight the different ways Oklahoma has been tied to and shaped by the environment. The section that covered the conservation of Oklahoma was properly headed by, “Plen’y of Air and Plen’y of Room (Reese and Loughlin, 67). Another properly headed section was the titled, “Where the Wind Comes Sweepin’ Down the Plain”, which covered the wind and severe weather that hits Oklahoma nearly yearly (Reese and Loughlin,