Thanks to you and Ray for posting this. What a stunning indictment. Yuck. Lawry
On Sep 2, 2012, at 9:01 PM, Ed Weick wrote: > Here's what Wikipedia says about Picher: > > Picher is a ghost town and former city in Ottawa County, Oklahoma, United > States. Formerly a major national center of lead and zinc mining at the heart > of the Tri-State Mining District, over a century of unrestricted subsurface > excavation dangerously undermined most of Picher's town buildings and left > giant piles of toxic metal-contaminated mine tailings (known as 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 lead > poisoning in 34% of the children in Picher[4]—eventually prompted a mandatory > evacuation and buyout (via eminent domain) of the entire township by > theEnvironmental Protection Agency and the incorporation of the town (along > with the similarly contaminated satellite towns of Treece and Cardin) into > the Tar Creek Superfund site. > A 2006 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.[5] A 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 2000 census to just 20 at > the 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 designated historical structures) are scheduled to be > demolished by the end of the year. > Picher is one of only a few locations in the world (along with others such as > Gilman, Colorado and 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 > To: 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION,EDUCATION' > 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
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