The Dangerous Tri-State Mining District: A Tale of Unchecked Use //
Spanning nearly 2,500 square miles across Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma, the Tri-State Mining District was one of the world's leading zinc and lead mining areas, producing over 400 million tons of crude ore between about 1850 and 1970. Over the past four decades, EPA has cleaned up millions of cubic yards of mining waste, chat piles, and contaminated soil caused by these and similar residual mine waste sites.
Continuing until the last mine closed in 1970, these mining operations have left over 300 million tons of mining waste in the form of chat piles that have since contaminated the surrounding soil and water with heavy metals such as lead, cadmium and zinc, among others.
Since the 1980s, EPA has been investigating and remediating contaminated areas across the nation. Sites that are determined to pose substantial risk to human health and the environment are placed on the National Priorities List.
A recent remedial cleanup effort has made remarkable progress along a tributary of Tar Creek that flows within the Tri-State Mining District, effectively revitalizing, restoring, and returning nearly 185 acres for reuse.
Cleanup efforts at this subsite in Cherokee County have removed over 1.1 million cubic yards of contaminated soil and mine waste over the past 20 years. The success at Tar Creek is just one of many examples of how small restoration efforts can have a big impact. The headwaters of Tar Creek begin in southeastern Kansas and flow south into Oklahoma and eventually into the Neosho River, which feeds into the Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees. Tar Creek and its tributaries are also part of the Neosho River watershed which, along with the Spring River watershed, make up the Grand Lake drainage basin.
The efforts made in this tributary directly contribute to the protection of human health and the environment throughout the entire watershed
