Located in northeast Oklahoma, Tar Creek was a mining district used since the early 1900s. During World War I, it produced a large majority of the lead and zinc used in the war efforts. By the 1920s, Tar Creek became the world’s largest producer of lead and zinc, generating over a billion dollars in revenue. However, the mines were shut down in the mid-1900s due to environmental concerns. Not having heard of Tar Creek before, I was shocked at its classification as the highest ranked Superfund site in the United States in 1983. Well over one hundred million dollars were spent on cleaning up the area, but over thirty years later the contamination is still out of control.
The film also made sure to emphasize how the environmental disaster affected the lives of the people and contributed to conflicts within society. The Tar Creek region was the part of the Indian Territory that was originally allotted to the Quapaw tribe after their forced relocation. In the 1870s, the Bureau of Indian Affairs illegally sold the area to mining companies because it was rich in lead and zinc. Now that the mining stopped and the clean up began, the land was recognized as the Quapaw’s territory once again, but instead of their original farmlands, they are now left with an empty, toxic wasteland. By the time the state instituted a plan for cleaning up the area, the contamination had spread on such a large scale that efforts to contain it made little difference.
In 2006, the state legislature of Oklahoma declared the area unfit to live and instituted voluntary buyout in Picher, one of the main towns affected by the mining pollution. A local trust was established to oversee the buyout and the process of appraisals. Many people felt that the appraisal company did not give them a fair deal. One family received an estimate of $115,000 for their house while another family, whose house was in a comparable (or even better) state, only received $70,000. To make matters worse, when the discrepancy was presented to members of the local trust, they acknowledged that perhaps too much money was given to the first family but did little to correct the mistake. One elderly lady was only offered $22,000 for her house, and while her small home may have actually been worth that little, it was not enough for her to start a new life somewhere else. Like this lady, some believed that the money they would receive from the buyout was not significant enough to support their relocation to a safer area. Some elderly citizens had lived in Picher their whole lives and did not want to uproot everything they had ever known. Many citizens participating in the buyout felt betrayed by the trust and the appraisal company, and these types of situations prompted several to reject the offers and to continue living in Picher.
However, the living situation was dire. Up to 40% of children in some areas had elevated levels of lead poisoning in their blood due to the contaminated dust from the enormous chat piles. This exposure caused neurological damage and learning disabilities in the children and higher rates of miscarriages in women. Highly acidic water from the mines flowed up and mixed with the surface water, contaminating it and making it unsafe to drink. This polluted water continues to flow through the river system leading into Grand Lake, which also has increased levels of lead due to mining. The heavily mined area around Picher is also susceptible to large sinkholes, which have caved in without warning. With all these hazards, it is no wonder why the state would try to relocate as many people as possible.
With this Tar Creek situation, the Social Conflict Theory comes to mind as a perspective that can be used to analyze the effects of the disaster. It began as a struggle for resources between the mining companies (through the Bureau of Indian Affairs) and the Quapaw. The mining companies had the advantage of the state’s power on their side, which helped them to exploit the Quapaw, who were considered lower in class and had very little power. This eventually led to the development of serious environmental hazards because these corporations cared only about their profit and not the quality of life of the citizens who lived there. Consequently, the economic inequality and the racism against American Indians contributed to the later struggle in getting appropriate help from the government in working toward a solution to this environmental disaster. In conclusion, environmental devastation, health problems, social issues that have emerged in Tar Creek can be traced back to the greater sociological problems of economic imbalance and racism between two social classes.