In the northeastern corner of Oklahoma, an hour and a half outside Tulsa, there is a ghost town. Vines and spray paint cover the houses and the grey of pavement is giving way to patches of the native grass. A water tower overlooks it all. The town’s name, “Picher”, is painted in large red letters on its side, right above “Gorillas Since 1918.”
[Source: formulanone on Flickr ]
Picher’s most unique feature is something you won’t find in any other ghost town—massive hills of white. This part of the landscape, however, is manmade—the result of decades of mining. While visually shocking, they also give insight into why the town is now abandoned. They are piles of mine waste. Acid mine drainage discharges from the old mines and contaminates public waterways. The hills that contain lead and zinc get blown by the wind, coating the surrounding area and, most worryingly, entering the lungs of local residents. Whether by air or by water, this mine waste is the cause of a public health emergency. As lead entered the bodies of those who once lived in Picher and continues to enter those who live in the surrounding communities, numerous health problems have occurred, from kidney disease to reproductive issues.
[Source: Alice Dricker]
Picher is part of the Tar Creek Superfund site, named after the river which runs through it. It is one of nearly two thousand different locations in the United States that have been identified by the federal government as areas of intense contamination due to hazardous waste. These locations are called Superfund sites after the Superfund program, which allows the Environmental Protection Agency to secure funds and resources to clean contaminated areas. In 2004, those funds were used to buyout Picher’s homeowners, turning it into the abandoned town it is today.
Communities near Superfund sites face many hazards. Almost all Superfund sites, including Tar Creek, were once bustling industrial towns. But the practices which brought them wealth are the same that contaminated the environment. In addition to the destruction of the land, communities near Superfund sites are often negatively impacted financially, and, perhaps most urgently, they face a range of life-threatening health consequences. While communities near the Tar Creek Superfund site face lead poisoning, communities near other Superfund sites may face respiratory illnesses or heart diseases.
Humans are, and always will be, deeply connected to the land on which they live. Pretending otherwise does a grave disservice to the communities living near Superfund sites. Action needs to be taken to address the public health emergencies occurring in these areas. In Picher a major action happened in the form of a buyout, resulting in the residents moving away. That being said, the public health consequences of the Tar Creek Superfund site continue to this day, as the contaminated water and soil has spread beyond Picher’s town boundaries. Superfund sites require continued efforts to remove their hazards and to work towards restoring the communities around them. By first defining what resources are lacking and then finding ways to remove gaps in access, communities that have been harmed for decades by environmental pollution can finally move forward in healing.