More funding for Tar Creek buyout effort

Associated Press
Published: November 14, 2008

TULSA - Another $6.2 million has been secured for efforts to purchase the homes and businesses of those living within the Tar Creek Superfund site in northeast Oklahoma.

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The grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency brings the amount provided for relocation efforts to about $45 million.

Another $10 million may be needed for completion, but Sen. Jim Inhofe today said in a story from the Tulsa World's Washington bureau that the finish line is now in sight.

Encompassing 40 square miles of Ottawa County, the former zinc and lead mining hub has been on the EPA Superfund list for two decades. Residents face potential mine collapses, acid mine water that stains Tar Creek orange and mountains of lead-contaminated mine waste called chat.

Congressman Dan Boren and Governor Brad Henry joined Inhofe in the announcement.

The voluntary federal buyout was announced in May 2006. An early state buyout pushed by Henry targeted families with young children.


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Related Topics: Domestic Policy, Political Policy, Politics, Environmental Protection, Nature and the Environment, Environmental Cleanup, Environmental Policy, Accidents and Disasters, Structural Collapses, Mining Accidents and Disasters


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