Editing Picher, Oklahoma (section)

=== Decline and pollution problems ===
The population entered a steady decline after the peak in 1926 due to the decrease in mining activity, leaving Picher with only 2,553 by 1960.<ref name="OSU" /> Mining ceased in 1967 and water pumping from the mines ceased. The contaminated water from 14,000 abandoned mine shafts, 70 million tons of mine tailings, and 36 million tons of mill sand and sludge remained as a huge environmental cleanup problem.<ref name="OSU" /> As a result of national legislation to identify and remediate such environmentally hazardous sites, in 1983 the area was designated as part of the Tar Creek Superfund site, along with the similarly contaminated satellite towns of [[Treece, Kansas]], and [[Cardin, Oklahoma]].

In 1994, [[Indian Health Service]] test results concerning the blood lead levels of Indian children living on the Site indicated that approximately 35 percent of the children tested had concentrations of lead in their blood exceeding 10 micrograms per deciliter, the level of lead in the blood the [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention|Centers for Disease Control]] considers to be a health concern. In August 1994, to address the threat of lead exposure to children, EPA began sampling soils at high-access areas, such as day cares, schoolyards, and other areas where children congregate. The sampling detected significant concentrations of lead, cadmium, and other heavy metals in surface soils.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}} Eventually, the EPA and the state of Oklahoma agreed to a mandatory [[Emergency evacuation|evacuation]] and buyout of the entire township.

While some remediation took place in the following quarter century, contamination and other environmental hazards were found to be so severe that the government decided to close Picher and relocate its residents, as reported on April 24, 2006, by [[Reuters]]. Due in large part to the removal of large amounts of subsurface material during mining operations, many of the city's structures have been deemed in imminent danger of caving in.<ref name="GillamC-2006-04-24">Gillam, Carey. - [https://web.archive.org/web/20080514234517/http://today.reuters.com/news/articlebusiness.aspx?type=naturalResources&storyID=nN23131359&from=business "FEATURE-Slow death consumes Oklahoma mining town"] - [[Reuters]] - April 24, 2006</ref>