A bill that would authorize the federal government to buy out and relocate remaining residents of Treece, Kan., has cleared Congress and is headed to President Obama, according to a release issued this evening by the office of U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas.
The buyout authority is a component of the 2010 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Conference Report that includes $15.3 million in projects for Kansas. An amendment to that report affords the Environmental Protection Agency the authority to relocate remaining Treece residents using buyouts of their homes.
Mine waste from decades of lead and zinc mining contaminate the town. Residents of Picher, Okla., neighboring Treece to the south, already have received a federal buyout from the EPA.
The current estimate for a Treece buyout is about $3 million. The EPA currently is using federal stimulus money to pay for a $66 million cleanup in Treece and Baxter Springs. That project may take 10 years.
Also included in the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Conference Report is $500,000 for restoration projects at the Colonial Fox Theater in Pittsburg, Kan.
