Quapaws vote to approve land deal
Published: February 1, 2004
QUAPAW The Quapaw Tribe voted overwhelmingly Saturday to accept a plan to determine ownership of land and mine tailings on the Tar Creek Superfund site, U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe said.
The Quapaw Tribe voted 135 to 18, with 14 members abstaining, to approve an agreement with the Department of Interior.
In a prepared statement, Inhofe, R-Tulsa, said the agreement would allow the Quapaw Tribe to complete unresolved financial and land management issues and thus take the first step toward an ultimate resolution.
The agreement addresses who owns the land and the pollutants on top, one of many issues surrounding Tar Creek. The land is held in trust by the Interior Department for Quapaw Tribe members. Under the agreement, a historical accounting will decide what belongs to the tribe and what belongs to the government.
"This agreement is vital to moving forward," Inhofe said. "These legal issues have existed for decades and have been a major obstacle preventing progress at Tar Creek."
A first for tribes The 40-square-mile area known as Tar Creek surrounds the communities of Picher, Cardin, Quapaw, Commerce and North Miami. It was a lead and zinc mining capital throughout much of the 20th century. After the mines shut down in the 1960s, mining companies left behind environmental problems including sinkholes and acid mine drainage that turned Tar Creek into muddy, rusty-colored water where no aquatic life can survive. Studies show the mountains of chat surrounding the area are lead-poisoned and pose health risks.
"We will be the first tribe to settle a claim against the Department of Interior," said John Berrey, Quapaw business chairman. "Before Senator Inhofe called a meeting in his office and brought together the Department of Interior and the Quapaw (Tribe), we could have never expected this kind of aggressive forward movement."
The tribe filed a federal lawsuit in 2002 against the Department of Interior accusing the federal government of mismanagement of tribal accounts. The tribe wanted a full and complete accounting.
The trust account is managed by the government on behalf of more than 300,000 American Indians. It is made up of royalties from mining, grazing, logging and other activities on 54 million acres of Indian land held in trust by the Interior Department.
Berrey said the tribe and federal agencies will work toward a settlement after the accounting process is completed, which will allow federal authorities to resolve the problem of about 75 million tons of chat in the Tar Creek area.
Once the land and accounting problems are worked out, the other Tar Creek problems will quickly work out, he said.
Inhofe, chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, brought the parties together in his office late last year to begin discussions on the agreement and credited both sides for their hard work.
Archive ID: 1692961
