Location

The Tar Creek Superfund Site is located in the Tri-State Mining Area in Ottawa, County in northeastern Oklahoma. The site covers 43 square miles (27,520 acres) and includes five small mining communities: Pitcher, Cardin, Quapaw, Commerce, and North Miami (#Luza, 2006). Tar Creek was listed as a Superfund site September 8, 1983 as one of the worst in the US.

Overview

Mining in Tar Creek took place from the early 1900s to the mid-1970s. The #Tar Creek Superfund Task Force, 2000 overview:

"When mining operations ceased at the Site in the 1970s, the metallic sulfide minerals in the mines lowered the groundwater pH in the abandoned mine excavations. Rising groundwater levels surfaced through old air shafts and subsidence areas, entered surface water drainages, and spread downstream into associated streams and wetlands. This water generally contains elevated concentrations of dissolved metals which adversely affects aquatic life, including lead, zinc and cadmium (CD). Deposition of excavated materials ("chat piles") began in the early 1900's. The chat, laced with heavy metals, was scattered throughout the Site, and is suspected as a source of contamination of surface water and groundwater. Ponds and streams throughout the Site are potentially contaminated with mine and chat drainage. Natural resources potentially affected by contaminants at the Site include, in part, federal and state threatened and endangered species, migratory birds, surface water, ground water, drinking water, plants, fish, biota, wildlife, cultural, agricultural, and terrestrial resources. Natural resources specific to the Tribes include, in part, natural resources used in traditional, cultural, spiritual and/or subsistence practices, such as medicinal herbs, furbearing animals, plants and fish used for ceremonial purposes. In particular, some of the species that are potentially impacted by releases of hazardous substances include the endangered gray bat, the threatened Neosho madtom, the Ozark cavefish, and the threatened bald eagle. There has also been significant reduction in the number of fish and aquatic invertebrates below the mine discharge points in surface watersheds. The reduction in biomass and diversity of aquatic biota in streams and wetlands, as well as uptake of contaminants at the site, has also potentially affected migratory birds in all three states."

Cleanup

A Tar Creek Task Force was established in 1980 to investigate the problems at Tar Creek (#Luza, 2006). The area was put added to the National Priorities List in 1983 and from 1984-1986 dikes were built to divert contaminated surface water around collapsed mine shafts and 88 abandoned deep wells were plugged (#Luza, 2006).

In 2003, Governor Frank Keating created another task force to develop a comprehensive remediation plan for the area that included stream restoration, chat utilization, land remediation and restoration, and mine hazard attenuation (#Luza, 2006).

During 1995-2003, average blood lead level and the percentage of elevated blood lead levels decreased among children living in the Tar Creek Area though they are still slightly than the nationwide average (#ATSDR, 2004). See the Full Recommendations of the Task Force.

References

• Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. "Fact Sheet - November 2004". November, 2004.

• Kenneth Luza, Oklahoma Geological Society, University of Oklahoma. "Tar Creek Superfund Site and Its Many Challenges". Geological Society of America (GSA), South-Central Section - 40th Annual Meeting (6-7 March 2006).
  

• Tar Creek Superfund Task Force. "Alternatives For Assessing Injuries to Natural Resources at the Tar Creek Superfund Site - Ottawa County, Oklahoma." Report to the Natural Resource Damages Subcommitee. July 21, 2000.

• Tar Creek Superfund site - wikipedia

• Welcome to Armageddon, USA: A Tour of America's Most Toxic Town Wired Magazine August 2010.