Superfund Sites in Reuse in Oklahoma

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Blackwell Zinc

The Blackwell Zinc site is in Blackwell, Oklahoma. From 1916 to 1974, the Blackwell Zinc Company ran a smelter facility on site. It processed zinc and cadmium concentrates to produce refined metal. Environmental releases resulted in high levels of metals in some soils and groundwater near the facility. In 1974, after closing and salvaging the facility, Blackwell Zinc Company donated the site property to the Blackwell Industrial Authority (BIA), a public trust of the city of Blackwell. The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality led the cleanup. It included removal of contaminated soils, consolidation of dug-up soils on site, stabilization of some off-site soils, house dust abatement, and capping. The city’s 2012 institutional control ordinance put land use restrictions, property maintenance requirements and soil handling requirements in place. The BIA developed Blackwell Industrial Park at the site. Current site uses include oil field services, a concrete-mixing business, a pressure-pumping business and a storage tank business. An alternative energy company, two electrical generators and a city warehouse are also on site.
Last updated December 2023

As of December 2023, EPA did not have economic data related to on-site businesses, or economic data were not applicable due to site use. For additional information click here.

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Eagle-Picher Henryetta

The 70-acre Eagle-Picher Henryetta site is in Henryetta, Oklahoma. From 1916 to 1968, the Eagle-Picher Mining and Smelting company ran a smelter that produced zinc, cadmium, and germanium on site. Its operations left large piles of waste contaminated with heavy metals. The company donated the smelter property to the city of Henryetta (the City) in 1974. Unaware of the contamination in the waste piles, the city used soil from the site as fill material across the community, including in neighborhoods, schools and parks. Downwind residential properties were also affected by air dispersion of heavy metals from stack emissions and windblown dust from the smelter facility. Investigations in the mid-1990s found lead and arsenic contamination at the site and across Henryetta. Working in partnership with the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ), EPA’s cleanup focused on removing contaminated soils and wastes and addressing residential areas affected by the site. Contaminated materials were consolidated on site. The remedy also included the placement of a clay cap, cover soil and vegetation over contaminated material to protect public health. After cleanup, the City opened Shurden-Leist Industrial Park at the site. The first tenant, a motorcycle manufacturing company, opened in 2006. In 2007, in recognition of the project’s success, the project received the Phoenix Award for EPA’s South-Central Region. In 2015, EPA and ODEQ worked with the city on a Ready for Reuse (RfR) Determination to support local interest in a rural health care center at the site. It helped make possible a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for the health center’s construction. In 2018, the East Central Oklahoma Family Health Center (ECOFHC) opened on site. The center provides health, dental health and behavioral health care services. During the opening ceremony, EPA Region 6 presented its Excellence in Site Reuse Award to ECOFHC and the City. The Henryetta R/C Aviators club is also on site. It uses part of the site for radio-controlled aerobatics and racing shows.
Last updated December 2023

As of December 2023, EPA had data on 2 on-site businesses. These businesses employed 29 people and generated an estimated $2,435,000 in annual sales revenue. For additional information click here.

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Fourth Street Abandoned Refinery

The 27-acre Fourth Street Abandoned Refinery Superfund site is in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. A waste oil reclamation facility was on site from the 1940s to the early 1960s. Facility operations and waste disposal practices contaminated soil and groundwater. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1989. Cleanup actions addressed contaminated sludge, soil, and sediments. EPA took the site off the NPL in 2008. Current site uses include a steel distributor, a construction company, and an equipment storage company.
Last updated December 2023

As of December 2023, EPA had data on 3 on-site businesses. These businesses employed 68 people and generated an estimated $13,233,600 in annual sales revenue. For additional information click here.

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National Zinc Corp.

The National Zinc Corp. site is in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. National Zinc Corp. ran a zinc smelter on site from 1907 to 1976. Operations used smelting and chemical processes to recover metals such as zinc, cadmium, and lead from industrial materials. The smelter had no air emission controls, allowing the deposit of emissions across areas downwind in Bartlesville. In 1991 and 1992, health studies found high levels of lead in the blood of area children. EPA proposed the site for listing on the National Priorities List and later designated it as a Superfund Accelerated Cleanup Model pilot project in 1993. Cleanup activities included replacement of soil on residential properties and capping, replacement, tilling and phosphate treatment at commercial properties. It also included removal and off-site disposal of contaminated sediment from impacted streams and tributaries. Clean fill replaced the excavated material. The site’s potentially responsible parties led cleanup activities, with Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality oversight. The cleanup addressed about 1,000 residential properties contaminated with heavy metals. Cleaning up soil in these areas significantly lowered overall blood lead levels in the community. Today, continued uses at the site include residential, commercial, and industrial areas. Uses also include churches, a ranch, non-profit organizations, recreational uses, including a sports center, a dog park, a river, several creeks, lakes. and ponds.
Last updated December 2023

As of December 2023, EPA did not have economic data related to on-site businesses, or economic data were not applicable due to site use. For additional information click here.

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Sand Springs Petrochemical Complex

The Sand Springs Petrochemical Superfund site is in Sand Springs, Oklahoma. The 235-acre area is part of an industrial complex on the northern bank of the Arkansas River. Starting in the early 1900s, various industries were on site, including oil refineries. These operations contaminated soil and groundwater. EPA began investigations in the area in 1980. In 1984, EPA ordered the emergency removal of contained drums and tanks from a 5.5-acre part of the site. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1986. In 1995, potentially responsible parties (PRPs) dug up and stabilized petroleum waste material and put it in a landfill on site. EPA took the site off the NPL in 2000. From 2004 and 2006, the PRPs dug up and removed sludge material along the banks of the Arkansas River. Operation and maintenance activities are ongoing. About 5 acres of the site is in reuse as a rail facility. It includes an area for shipment transfer, storage and loading. On the northern part of the site, an old lumberyard was purchased and redeveloped for commercial use, including a vehicle repair facility. Several other commercial and industrial businesses also remain active on site.
Last updated December 2023

As of December 2023, EPA had data on 15 on-site businesses. These businesses employed 363 people and generated an estimated $211,769,281 in annual sales revenue. For additional information click here.

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Tar Creek (Ottawa County)

Tar Creek (Ottawa County)
Tar Creek (Ottawa County)

The Tar Creek (Ottawa County) Superfund site is in northeast Oklahoma. It consists of areas impacted by historical mining operations and is part of the Tri-State Mining District, which spans parts of Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri. Mining for lead, cadmium and zinc began in the late 1800s and continued until the late 1970s. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1983. To date, cleanup activities have included the excavation of lead-contaminated soil from nearly 3,000 residential yards and high-access areas, the remediation of over 8 million tons of mining waste and contaminated soil, plugging of abandoned wells, surface water management through constructed wetlands, and residential relocation. From 2009 to 2012, the Lead Impacted Communities Relocation Assistance Trust, working with the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ), conducted residential buyouts, demolitions and relocations for the mining towns of Picher, Cardin and Hockerville. EPA also worked with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to establish the Treece Relocation Assistance trust to buy out homes in Treece, Kansas. In 2010, EPA collaborated with the Local Environmental Action Demanded (LEAD) Agency, the Northeast Technology Center at Afton and CH2M Hill to establish the Tar Creek Superfund Job Training Initiative (SuperJTI). Tar Creek SuperJTI provided 26 local jobseekers with new skills and work experience linked to the site’s cleanup. In 2012, the Quapaw Nation became the first Native American Tribe to lead and manage cleanup at a Superfund site when it was awarded EPA funding to clean up the Tribally owned Catholic 40 property, a 40-acre area with significant cultural and historic meaning for the Quapaw Nation. Since then, EPA has awarded the Quapaw Nation multiple cooperative agreements for cleanups on other restricted Tribal lands. For remediation of mine waste on unrestricted and non-Tribal areas, EPA has awarded cooperative agreements to ODEQ. EPA is leading a remedial investigation of contaminated surface water and sediment in affected watersheds. In 2019, EPA Region 6, in cooperation with the state of Oklahoma, the Quapaw Nation and many partners, published the Tar Creek Superfund Site Strategic Plan. It provides a cleanup update and outlines how EPA, ODEQ, the Quapaw Nation and the Tar Creek community will make further progress addressing mining waste and contamination at the site. In December 2021, the site was among those selected by EPA to receive cleanup funding under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). With this funding, EPA is already initiating work on backlogged remedial construction projects and accelerating cleanups at NPL sites. EPA, Quapaw Nation, and the Department of Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs partnered to enact conservation easements, which serve as long term institutional controls, on some site Tribal properties to enable long-term protection and limitations on land use in these areas. Future actions include continuing cleanup progress, reevaluating land use assumptions, exploring innovative technologies, and identifying more reuse opportunities. In recent years, increased flooding in the region has raised concerns among residents that floodwaters could carry contaminants into downstream communities, businesses and homes. In 2022, the LEAD Agency published a publicly available online mapping tool that shows the affected flood zones and mining wastes. ODEQ, with funding from EPA, continues to provide free residential yard testing to property owners concerned about re-contamination. As of 2023, nearly 5,000 acres of the site have been remediated and are available for future use. The Quapaw Nation’s cleanup efforts have set the stage for several redevelopment projects that reflect the Tribe’s reuse priorities, including cultural preservation, agricultural use and the expansion of the Tribe’s traditional economic focus on ranching. Ongoing cleanup activities enable agricultural, public service, commercial and residential uses to continue across the site. Commercial and industrial businesses remain open on site. A large part of the site is used for crop production and as pastureland for cattle. The city of Miami partnered with ODEQ and EPA on the cleanup of a former Eagle Picher office complex in Miami, Oklahoma. It originally served as the local headquarters for the Eagle Picher Mining Company. For many years, the office complex sat abandoned with several environmental challenges, including the presence of mining waste on the property. The city acquired the property, coordinated cleanup efforts with ODEQ and EPA, and converted the site into a splash pad and city park in 2020. In mid-2023, EPA and the Quapaw Nation partnered to begin development of a second Tar Creek Solar reuse assessment which includes a broader evaluation of the Quapaw Nation energy needs and potential partnerships across Tribal business initiatives to achieve higher levels of energy sovereignty for the Quapaw Nation. The initial Tar Creek solar assessment, completed in 2019, evaluated potential for utility scale projects, and now the EPA and Quapaw stakeholders would like to focus on community and Tribal facility needs.
Last updated December 2023

As of December 2023, EPA had data on 89 on-site businesses. These businesses employed 1,219 people and generated an estimated $194,763,249 in annual sales revenue. For additional information click here.

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Tulsa Fuel And Manufacturing

The 61-acre Tulsa Fuel and Manufacturing Superfund site is in Collinsville in Tulsa County, Oklahoma. A zinc smelter was on site from 1914 to 1925. Historical smelting operations contaminated soil, sediment and surface water. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1999. Cleanup activities included on-site consolidation and capping of soil, sediment and waste material, and implementation of institutional controls. Operation and maintenance activities are ongoing. Cleanup resulted in the transformation of this once-contaminated smelter property into restored ecological habitat, supporting the protection of bees and production of high-quality honey. Shadow Mountain Honey Company and Ide’s Gary Avenue Gold Honey operate a honeybee swarm rescue and removal service and honeybee farm on site. EPA deleted the site from the NPL in September 2020.
Last updated December 2023

As of December 2023, EPA had data on one on-site business. EPA did not have further economic details related to this business. For additional information click here.

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Wilcox Oil Company

The Wilcox Oil Company Superfund site is in Creek County, Oklahoma. It covers approximately 150 acres. From 1915 to 1963, a crude oil refinery was on site. Its operations contaminated soil and left behind waste material. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 2013. EPA’s Superfund Redevelopment Program (SRP) provided support for a regional seed project at the site in 2017 and 2018 to inform EPA’s activities and the community’s redevelopment planning efforts. In 2021, the site was among those selected by EPA to receive cleanup funding under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). With this funding, EPA is already initiating work on backlogged remedial construction projects and accelerating cleanups at NPL sites. Investigations and cleanup planning at the site are ongoing. Current site uses include a church, residential areas and agricultural properties.
Last updated December 2023

As of December 2023, EPA did not have economic data related to on-site businesses, or economic data were not applicable due to site use. For additional information click here.

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Last updated on November 7, 2024