Wait till you see what they say about the Tar Sands.
REH From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ed Weick Sent: Sunday, September 02, 2012 9:02 PM To: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION Subject: Re: [Futurework] Picher, Oklahoma Here's what Wikipedia says about Picher: Picher is a <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_town> ghost town and former city in <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa_County,_Oklahoma> Ottawa County, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma> Oklahoma, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States> United States. Formerly a major national center of <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead> lead and <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc> zinc mining at the heart of the <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tri-State_district> Tri-State Mining District, over a century of unrestricted subsurface excavation dangerously undermined most of Picher's town buildings and left giant piles of <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxic_metal> toxic metal-contaminated <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mine_tailings> mine tailings (known as <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chat_(mining)> chat) heaped throughout the area. The discovery of the cave-in risks, groundwater contamination and health effects associated with the chat piles and subsurface shafts-particularly an alarming 1996 study which showed <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_poisoning> lead poisoning in 34% of the children in Picher <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picher,_Oklahoma#cite_note-3> [4]-eventually prompted a mandatory <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_evacuation> evacuation and buyout (via <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminent_domain> eminent domain) of the entire township by the <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_Protection_Agency> Environmental Protection Agency and the incorporation of the town (along with the similarly contaminated satellite towns of <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treece,_Kansas> Treece and <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardin,_Oklahoma> Cardin) into the <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tar_Creek_Superfund_site> Tar Creek Superfund site. A 2006 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_Corps_of_Engineers> Army Corps of Engineers study which showed 86% of Picher's buildings (including the town school) were badly undermined and subject to collapse at any time. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picher,_Oklahoma#cite_note-4> [5] A <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujita_scale> F4 tornado which destroyed or damaged 150 homes in May 2008 accelerated the exodus. The town ceased official operations on September 1, 2009 and the population plummeted from 1,640 at the <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_United_States_Census> 2000 census to just 20 at the <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_United_States_Census> 2010 census. As of January 2011, only six homes and one business remain, their owners having refused to leave at any price; the rest of the town's buildings (excepting <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Register_of_Historic_Places> designated historical structures) are scheduled to be <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demolished> demolished by the end of the year. Picher is one of only a few locations in the world (along with others such as <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilman,_Colorado> Gilman, Colorado and <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wittenoom,_Western_Australia> Wittenoom, Western Australia) to be evacuated and declared uninhabitable due to environmental and health damage caused by the mines the town once serviced. A very, very sad story. Ed ----- Original Message ----- From: Ed Weick <mailto:[email protected]> To: 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION,EDUCATION' <mailto:[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, September 02, 2012 8:53 PM Subject: [Futurework] Picher, Oklahoma Just took a look at Picher, Ray. Huge mine diggings all over the place. One of them, just west of town, contains a "Harrell Park". Was it named after someone you know? Ed _____ _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
_______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
