DEQ plans Ottawa County cleanup project this fall

MIAMI, OK — The state Department of Environmental Quality is planning a cleanup project this fall for Ottawa County residential properties contaminated with lead and zinc.

“The timetable for the cleanup is from August to December,” DEQ Project Manager Brian Stanila said Tuesday during a meeting with local residents.

Ottawa County is home to Tar Creek, which encompasses 40 square miles of land contaminated with lead and zinc.

For years, the area was at the top of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund list after mining companies abandoned the area in the 1960s and 1970s leaving behind environmental, hazardous waste and medical problems.

In addition to the contaminated “chat” produced by mining operations, abandoned mines filled with acid water cover more than 100 square miles.

“All schools and some parks have been remediated,” Stanila said. There is no cost for the yard cleanup, he said.

“Renters can ask to have the property sampled and if the property needs to be remediated, the homeowners will be contacted,” Stanila said

Stanila said DEQ will sample the residential properties for lead or determine if the property has been previously sampled or cleaned.

The cleanup process involves digging out several inches of dirt around homes or in playgrounds or areas with high lead concentration and refilling them, said Rebecca Jim, LEAD Agency executive director.

There are six Operable Units that are geared to contamination prevention and cleanup projects: well plugging and surface water diversion, yard cleanup, nonresidential waste material cleanup and sediment and surface water cleanup.

The only project completed is the Eagle Picher Plant cleanup.

The EPA has spent more than $367 million since 1980 in the 40-square-mile site in northern Ottawa County, according to the agency.

Tar Creek was the subject of a federally funded buyout after a 2006 federal study showed the abandoned lead and zinc mines underneath Picher and the nearby communities of Cardin and Hockerville had a high risk of collapsing.