Stephen Friot, federal judge denied Oklahoma an injunctionAfter the U.S. Department of the Interior removed the state’s authority to regulate mining within reservation boundaries, it raised questions about who has the right clean up the environment on reservations. McGirt v. Oklahomadeciding who gets the federal money to complete the work.
As the effects of McGirt Move beyond criminal jurisdiction with legal challenges tax laws, environmental cleanup regulation, and tax laws How to reclaim abandoned minesOklahoma is gaining attention. Leaders of tribal nations claim that the landmark Supreme Court decision was not just a win in tribal sovereignty but also a win in their ability to care for and steward the land. This is a job they believe they are best qualified to do.
Tar Creek and Quapaw Nation
Tar Creek Superfund contains some of America’s most famous abandoned mines. Picher, one the areas most polluted communities, is also located there. In 2021, an Ottawa County court ruled that the Quapaw Nations reservation had not been disestablished. Tribal leaders hoped this would allow them to exercise greater control over the clean up.
It is a huge job.
The Quapaw, also known as the Downstream People, was forcibly expelled from Arkansas in 1830s. Their new reservation was home to valuable zinc, lead, and other minerals that were discovered over the next decade.
The temporary boom that mining created in towns like Zincville, Cardin, and Picher was due to a lack of regulation and control over toxic waste. The mines began to close down in the 1960s. However, they left behind mountains and tons of chat, which was a byproduct from the mining waste.
A number of other factors contributed to the area’s pollution, including the fact that rivers turned orange and abandoned mines left behind tunnels. This caused homes to collapse, and lead soil led to elevated levels in children’s blood.
The Environmental Protection Agency declared these towns uninhabitable. They started a voluntary home-buyout.
Seventy-four-year-old Henry Ellick and his wife Jeann Ann raised their three children in Picher. The house they lived at Picher is gone now, and the lot has been overgrown with weeds and brush. Ellick recalled the sycamore tree that he planted and how it helped him stay in shape as a boxer by using the unattractive mining byproduct.
Ellick said, “I used to run that chat pile right here,” as he pointed out an enormous pile of gray and silicone waste.
Guy Barker, Quapaw Nation secretary treasurer, can still recall sledding down the large piles during snowy days. Barker’s family moved from Picher to work in the mines. His great Grandfather Victor Griffin was the chief of the tribe at the height of the mining boom.
The Quapaw Nation has been in operation since 2012. PartnershipThe EPA will remediate and remove all soil so that crops can grow again and cattle can graze.
Craig Kreman, Quapaw Nation’s environmental director, stated that while the tribal nation handles the cleanup along the federal and state governments they are examining whether they have more authority under their reaffirmed reservations status to regulate companies that contract to clean up within the reservation boundaries.
“I think thats being in question with McGirt. What resources does the tribe and our environmental office have to enforce regulations? Kreman.
He looks at the creek that has suffered the most from the environmental damage caused due to mining. The creek’s underground pools have been contaminated with lead and zinc, which has oxidized and turned the trees along the creek orange.
This is after the cleanup has been ongoing for almost 40 years.
Flintrock, one company that removes the mining byproduct, also produces some runoff. They haul it away, and then sell it as asphalt pavement filler.
Kreman believes the Quapaw Nations could do a better task of regulating contractors if they were fully responsible for the work.
Shortly thereafter, McGirt v. OklahomaDecision: Tribal nations that had their reservation boundaries confirmed updated their criminal codes to reflect the increased responsibility.
This is what Quapaw Nation does with its environmental laws.
As the tribe nation creates its new constitution, they are determining what power they have to enforce environmental regulations. McGirt ruling. They have appointed a committee to write environmental rules to assist them in the cleanup of Tar Creek and any future problems.
“We have dedicated scientists and engineers, geologists that work every day on this issue. Barker said, “I mean, the foremost specialists here work for the tribe nation.”
“We have the real knowledge to help steer this forward. It would be great if there were another environmental impact of a similar nature or scope.
It is not clear how Oklahoma would react to Quapaw Nation imposing fines on companies that violate their environmental codes. Nor what role, if any the Department of Environmental Quality might play in Tar Creek. Quapaw Nation invited Oklahoma Governor. Kevin Stitt was offered the chance to visit the cleanup, but he declined. In a press release last autumn, the Governor stated that he was disappointed by the lower court’s decision to reaffirm Quapaws reservation.
Other tribes also assert environmental control
The Department of the Interior announced that they would be awarding $3.5 million to three Oklahoma tribes in February to reclaim abandoned coal mines and surface mining within their reservation boundaries. This includes the Cherokee Nation (Choctaw Nation), and the Muscogee Nation. The money will not go to Oklahoma because of the McGirt ruling. The Cherokee Nation completed a reclamation project in 2021 to restore an abandoned coal strip mine in Porum in Oklahoma.
Cherokee Nation currently has six abandoned mines on its reservation that are eligible for funding. According to the Department of Interiors Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement(OSRME), Choctaw Nations Environmental Protection Service has 33 active mines within its territory. Additionally, 145 are Abandon Mining Problem Areas that need reclamation.
Chad Harsha is the Cherokee Nation’s Secretary for Natural Resources. He says that aside from the high levels methane (which according to the EPA accounts 10% of all greenhouse gases), there are many other hazards that abandoned mines present.
Sec. Harsha. “Many of these mines are abandoned strip mines. They’re basically open pits that were dug into the coal veins and the coal removed.”
Harsha is glad that the DOI paid the money to the tribal governments and not the state.
Quapaw Nation’s environmental division has completed eight reclamation works at the Tar Creek Superfund site, within the reservation boundaries of Picher. Barker and Kreman believe it will take decades to clean up Cardin and Picher.
Barker says McGirt This is a win considering the potential environmental impact of the decision and Quapaw actively managing the superfund site. They plan to strengthen their environmental codes.
Barker stated that “it’s really best that they be able to hold individual actors responsible so that we aren’t chasing our tail creating environmental harm to not only the area but its inhabitants.” Barker also spoke out about their renewed jurisdiction over environmental policies.
Jeann Ann Ellick and Henry now live in Quapaw, in what Henry calls a “mansion.”
It won’t be his home again, but it will be his forever.
“Everybody knew everybody. Henry Ellick said, “It was just a safe place.”
This story was created in collaboration with Newsy.
