DEQ continues to work with the Oklahoma Department of Health on this issue. Residential properties being cleaned up and education efforts have resulted in blood lead levels in the children being reduced significantly. Prior to yard cleanups, a percentage of young children living within the five-city mining area were known to have very high blood lead levels, above the standard set by the Center for Disease Control. Children are the most sensitive population for lead and heavy metal exposures. Waste in the form of large chat and tailing piles, contaminated soils, surface and ground water, are a source of exposure to the citizens of the Tri-State area. Contaminants sometimes leach from waste sources and migrate to surface waters that are used for recreational uses. In 1979 acid mine water began flowing into surface waters, severely impacting surface water quality. As the mines filled with water, acidic mine water was generated that severely impacted the Boone aquifer. Since mining ceased, subsidence has occurred in several areas due both to roof collapse and erosion of mine shafts. More than 1,320 mine shafts and thousands of exploratory boreholes and air vents were abandoned. Approximately 300 miles of underground mine tunnels underlie the Oklahoma portion of the District. These wastes contain elevated concentrations of lead and zinc and contributed to elevated blood lead concentrations in as high as 43% of children in some communities. Mining and milling produced more than 500 million tons of wastes in the Tri-State area. When mining ceased, huge volumes of mining waste, including chat and mill tailings, were left on the surface. The Tar Creek area encompasses the Oklahoma portion of the Tri-State Mining District, where lead and zinc were mined and milled from about 1900 to the 1960’s. The Tar Creek Superfund Site is part of the Tri-State Mining District, which includes northeastern Oklahoma, southeastern Kansas, and southwestern Missouri.
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