Tar Creek restoration ideas sought from public

The Tar Creek Trustees are seeking submissions of restoration project ideas from the public according to the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality.

Any individual or group can submit a restoration project idea which addresses natural resource injuries and/or cultural service losses within the Northeastern Oklahoma Mining Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration Site (NOMNRDAR). Project idea submissions will be accepted until January 6, 2020. For more information on project idea submissions, go to: https://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/oklahoma/documents/contaminants/Invitation.pdf

The NOMNRDAR Site is located within the northeast Oklahoma section of the Tri-State Mining District, an area that covers more than 2,500 square miles and includes portions of southeast Kansas, southwest Missouri and northeast Oklahoma. Significant portions of the NOMNRDAR area were and continue to be affected by releases of cadmium, lead, zinc and other hazardous substances. The Tar Creek Trustees determined to use a combination of on-site and off-site restoration actions to restore, rehabilitate, replace and/or acquire the equivalent of the injured natural resources and associated services lost within the site.

The Tar Creek Trustees include the US Department of Interior through the US Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs, Cherokee Nation, Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma, Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma, Seneca-Cayuga Nation, Wyandotte Nation and the Office of the Oklahoma Secretary of Energy and the Environment.

For more information on how to submit a project idea, go to: https://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/oklahoma/documents/contaminants/Invitation.pdf For information on the site or the Tar Creek Trustee Council, you may contact Jay Wright with the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality at (405) 702-7100 or jay.wright@deq.ok.gov. All media calls should be directed to Erin Hatfield at (405) 702-7119.