By Wally Kennedy
wkennedy@joplinglobe.com
MIAMI, Okla. — The 10th national conference on the Tar Creek Superfund Site, slated for Sept. 15-17 at the Miami Civic Center, will feature a keynote address by Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson and the showing of a new documentary film, “Shall We Gather at the River.’’
The conference, in part, will explore the connection between river-borne nutrients from chicken CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations) in Missouri and their impact on the consumption of heavy metals by fish in Grand Lake.
Edmondson has taken a tough stand against chicken CAFOs in Arkansas. Water-quality problems have been prompted for the Illinois River, Lake Eucha and other water bodies in Oklahoma, authorities say.
Edmondson will speak on the issue at 9 a.m. Wednesday at the civic center. A period for questions will follow his talk.
Edmondson and several local residents will appear in the film, which will be shown at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Coleman Theater in Miami. Tickets at the door are $10. Panel discussions will be held a half hour before the showing of the film and again after the film is shown.
Also appearing in the documentary will be Earl Hatley, a community organizer for the LEAD Agency at Miami, Chief Leaford Bearskin, and Bill Berry and Riley Needham, who live along Honey Creek in Northeast Oklahoma. The creek, which flows into Grand Lake, receives wastewater from a chicken rendering plant north of Southwest City, Mo.
Rebecca Jim, a community organizer with the LEAD Agency, said this year’s conference will focus on the heavy-metal-contamination issues associated with Tar Creek.
Tar Creek, a small stream that flows through the former Picher Mining Field and the city of Miami before emptying into the Neosho River, is contaminated with high levels of lead and zinc that have leached from the mines.
Hatley said Honey Creek, Spring River and Elk River all are listed as impaired streams when they enter Oklahoma because of nutrient loading upstream in Missouri and Kansas. The nutrients, he said, bond with heavy metals in the sediment of the lake and become part of the water column during seasonal turnovers of the lake.
Hatley said, “So what do CAFOs have to do with metals in the lake? The nutrients from the CAFOs make the metals constantly bio-available to fish in the lake. It’s all tied in, and it’s clear we’re all downstream.’’
Hatley cited a report released by the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality in 1998 on the presence of eutrophic conditions in the lake as the source of the research.
“Rivers and lakes in Northeast Oklahoma are all bearing the brunt of the poultry industry waste, with loadings of heavy bacteria and nutrients in these waters, changing the way they can be used, if used at all,’’ Hatley said.
Jim said residents of Northeast Oklahoma who successfully fought the construction of a large egg-production CAFO should view the documentary.
“We want to encourage anyone who signed a petition, attended a meeting, made those organizing calls, those who stood up and spoke out to come, see this movie, and see why the fight was so important and to celebrate their efforts,” she said. “This area fought to protect their neighbors and their environment from an industry that rarely loses.”
Reports will focus on the cultural impacts of the Tri-State Mining District, the Quapaw Tribe’s air-monitoring project at Picher, the passive treatment of contaminated mine water, and tracing the sources of metals in Tar Creek flood-plain soil after the 2007 flood.
Updates
Those attending the conference will receive updates from several state and federal agencies that are working at the site, which was placed on the National Priorities List of hazardous-waste sites in the early 1980s. Details: (918) 540-6204 or visit www.leadagency.org.
Local News
<img src="http://www.joplinglobeonline.com/images/zope/extra.gif" border=0>Documentary to be featured at 10th annual Tar Creek conference<font color="#ff0000"> w/ September 2008 EPA Tar Creek project progress report </font>
- Local News
-
-
City wants to buy weather radios for those without
Phil Jones had been working on a construction project outside his house all day on May 22 and was unaware that a tornado watch had been issued. Once he was inside, though, his weather radio went off, and he learned that a warning had been issued.
-
Architects present preliminary JHS plans at community meeting
Reaction appeared mostly supportive Thursday night among the roughly 50 people who attended a community meeting at which architects presented their preliminary site plans for the future combined Joplin High School and Franklin Technology Center.
-
Confessed shooter testifies against co-defendants in Pittsburg murder case
Rickey Smith testified Thursday that as he came in the back door of Ryan Bailey’s home in Pittsburg with a 9 mm pistol in his hand, Bailey looked up from the couch in his living room.
-
School district’s proposed street-closing plan questioned
Plans to close some streets near the proposed Joplin High School drew questions, including a challenge from a former Joplin mayor, during a public hearing this week.
-
Neosho council approves new golf cart contract
The purchase of golf carts was back on the agenda this week for the Neosho City Council. City Attorney Steve Hays said there were errors in the financing terms that were part of a bid approved last month for the purchase of 55 gas-powered carts from E-Z-Go for $144,195, so the purchase of a new fleet was rebid.
-
Mike Pound: Spirit of competition evident during double-overtime game
When I played basketball in high school, I played in several very close games.
Now, some people who may have known me in high school are probably laughing right now and saying, “What Mike meant to say is that when he was in high school, he came very close to playing in some games.” -
Mo. optometrist filed $40 million refund claim
A southwest Missouri optometrist who filed a tax return claiming a $40 million refund has been sentenced to four years and three months in federal prison.
-
Okla. receives waiver from No Child Left Behind
Oklahoma’s top education official reacted with glee Thursday with the announcement that the state is one of 10 states being granted a waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind law that requires students be proficient in reading and math by 2014 — but focused on getting students to “just pass the tests.”
-
Kan. House approves bipartisan redistricting bill
Power in the Kansas House is likely to shift next year from rural parts of the state to the Kansas City area after members overwhelmingly approved a bipartisan bill Thursday for redrawing their districts.
-
Fugitive in 1993 British heist arrested in Ozark
A man suspected of stealing about $1.5 million from a security van in England in 1993 has been arrested in southwest Missouri.
- More Local News Headlines
-
Denver's Largest-Ever Drug Bust Nets Dozens
Marines: No Punishment for Nazi-like Flag
Vets Look to Translate Military Skills Into Jobs
Expert: Removing LA School's Staff 'Appropriate'
Raw Video: School Bus Burst Into Flames
LA School Reopens Amid Sex Abuse Scandal
$25B Settlement Reached Over Foreclosure Abuses
Pentagon: Allow Women Closer to Front Lines
Obama Gives Education Waivers to 10 States
Giffords Aide to Run for Her Seat
LA School in Sex Abuse Scandal Reopens
Winter Slamming North Asia, Parts of Europe
Syrian Forces Renew Bombardment of Homs
States, Banks Reach Foreclosure-abuse Settlement
Raw Video: Italy's Mount Etna Bursts Into Life
Greeks March; Angry Despite Debt Deal
Raw Video: U.S. Pullout Celebration
Raw Video: Annual Empire State Building Run-Up
Man Killed in Courthouse Shootout
Air Force Airlines: Leaders Get Polished Service
