PSO UPDATE

Good news on the questions surrounding the PSO "coverup". I received a call from PSO corporate offices in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Now, I have been waiting for a reply from someone, anyone, or anything from PSO. I have sent two letters and had hoped for a return letter for some type of explanation of just what happened.

I will be honest with you, during the summers, I do not get an Anadarko Daily News all the time, nor do I listen to Larry LaLiberty's news reports but on a sporadic basis. We do receive the Sunday Oklahoman, which is delivered early by a strange, yellow cat! The rest of my news is gleaned from the Net, television, and my venerable Time. To my knowledge, none of us in Washita has had any formal explanation from the company, so the information around our house has been sketchy.

Stan Whiteford of the PSO corporate offices in Tulsa called me today, July 15, and enlightened me on just what happened and any new information on the environmental impact of the explosion. Public Service of Oklahoma is a subsidiary of its parent holding company Central South West in Texas which holds two or three other electrical generating companies. Now, don't get me wrong; as Stan talked to me over the phone, I took down the information as best as I could and do not claim 100% accuracy on this. Funny thing, before the explosion, I had need to call PSO in Tulsa to get some historical information on the "Washita Plant". I was told by the lady with whom I talked, that PSO had no Washita Plant and argued with me over the point, until she realized I was talking about the Southwestern Station.

As best is known right now, the number one of three boilers blew up as the workers tried to start it. The explosion temporarily shut off electricity to some of the surrounding area but was on within the day. They are not sure what happened and are still investigating. From the beginning, as many as four agencies were involved in monitoring the effects of the explosion on the plant itself and on the surrounding peoples and area. The Oklahoma Department of Labor has been the primary agency which has been monitoring asbestos levels in and around the plant. According to Stan, all testings have uncovered asbestos at well BELOW "detectable" levels.

Other agencies have been involved in the monitoring and evaluation process of the explosion and the investigation is ongoing. The following agencies have also been working in the area: Environment Protection Agency (EPA), Oklahoma Department of Environment Quality, and OSHA (Occupational Safety & Health Administration). There is lots of stuff about all of these, and you can start your search at http://www.ok.state.us. As I searched the Net, many of my searches looped back around to state programs.

Finally, I think I need to include, here, Public Service Of Oklahoma's Net homepage: http://www.csw.com. If you are interested in any information that I might relay, give me an email at dhill@tanet.net. Hope you have enjoyed my little evacuation story as much as I did writing it. The Godzilla picture was taken in Norman on top of a multi-screened movie theater and was on the same role of film that the explosion pictures were on, and to my knowledge, Godzilla has not been spotted around Washita - yet. Incidentally, the closeup picture of the boiler and damage was Mr. Whiteford's first, marginally closeup look at the damage. Realizing that some of the E.P.A and D.E.P. professionals are still looking into what exactly caused the explosion, I certainly do not want them to overlook any possibilities. Therefore, I submit one more photo that was in that same explosion group of pictures. Could this picture give us a clue?

Certainly the explosion has made me and many others in Washita residents reconsider how safe we are, adjacent to an electrical plant; but given the number of years that the plant has been located here, it has been remarkably free of serious accidents. Questions still linger concerning disbursement of asbestos during and a bit after the initial explosion. Without the tax base that the plant affords, Anadarko Public Schools would not be able to have some of the most modern facilities in Southwestern Oklahoma.

Dale Hill, July 15, 1998