Экологическая катастрофа в Пичере: город-призрак в центре одной из старейших программ очистки США

According to EPA’s records on the Tar Creek Superfund site, that boomtown of Picher is said to be at the center of one of the oldest and most complicated of the nation’s federally mandated clean-ups: a 40-square-mile portion of Ottawa County that still bears mountains of hazardous mining refuse known as "chat" despite the cessation of mining operations decades ago. This story might seem familiar. But it isn't. It is more odd, more ancient, and perhaps more preventable. How a farm turned into a mining empire almost overnight The 1913 discovery on Crawfish's land helped expand the broader Tri-State Mining District, spanning Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri, where mining had actually begun decades earlier, into one of the major lead-and-zinc ore districts in the United States. In its prime, around 14,000 workers labored in the mines underground while another 4,000 supported the industry above ground; many of these workers commuted in from surrounding towns, including Carthage, Missouri, by trolley, which is why the workforce total exceeds Picher's own population figures. More than half of the lead and zinc used by the U.S. during World War I reportedly came from the district: a uniquely American boomtown story that would later curdle into one of the country's longest-running environmental liabilities. When toxic waste became a playground For many years, the people of Picher did not know that the "chat" piles which towered in their midst, some claimed to be as tall as 200 feet, could harm their health. They would have picnics on them, kids would ride their bikes down them, and sled on them. Some even used the gravel-like waste to line their driveways and sandbox areas. They were all just another part of the landscape, until they stopped being one. A chat pile at the Tar Creek Superfund site in Pitcher, Oklahoma. Image credits: Wikimedia Commons The slow-motion collapse nobody could stop in time Mining had stopped by the late 1960s, and after the mining companies stopped pumping out the water from the mines, the soil became very unstable and filled with sinkholes and mine collapses. By the late 1970s, the Tar Creek water had become orange and red due to acid mine drainage. The EPA added the site to the Superfund National Priority List in 1983, but the progress was extremely slow because neither federal nor state authorities began serious relocation efforts until the early 2000s. On May 10, 2008, an EF4 tornado tore through Picher, killing six people and destroying roughly 150 homes. The disaster forced an immediate emergency evacuation, compounding, rather than merely accelerating, a relocation process already underway. The city's incorporated status was officially canceled on September 1, 2009, according to the Oklahoma Historical Society. By the 2010 census, only 20 people remained within the former city limits. Why this should matter This is a story about who gets protected from the adverse effects of industrialization and who is is left alone to face them. According to a peer-reviewed study published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences' Environmental Health Perspectives, the scientists have found that during the past forty years of studying, there was no such thing as a safe blood level in children, which means that any low-level lead exposure in the under-remediated areas of the US is risky. That finding is about lead exposure broadly, not specific to Tar Creek, but it underscores why any residual contamination in under-remediated sites carries risk. Chat pile in Pitcher containing lead-contaminated dust. Image credits: Wikimedia Commons (Catch all the US News, UK News, Canada News, International Breaking News Events, and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.) Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily International News Updates. (Catch all the US News, UK News, Canada News, International Breaking News Events, and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.) Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily International News Updates.