WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senators Pat Roberts, Sam Brownback and U.S. Representative Lynn Jenkins today announced the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will send three top officials to visit Treece, Kansas, on August 20, 2009, to see firsthand contamination and subsidence issues endangering local residents.

 At a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing, Senator Roberts invited EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to visit the area. Administrator Jackson quickly acted to send key officials including: Mathy Stanislaus, Assistant Administrator for the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, Bob Sussman, Senior Policy Counsel to the Administrator, and William Rice, Acting Region 7 Administrator.

 Details of the visit are still being determined, but the tour will include the town of Treece, Kansas, and Picher, Oklahoma. Senator Roberts and Rep. Jenkins will be joined by State Representative Doug Gatewood and an invitation has been sent to Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson or his designee.

 “I am pleased Administrator Jackson is sending key decision makers to observe for themselves, the unique and dangerous conditions residents of Treece face on a daily basis. Once you visit this town, and compare it with Picher, you can better understand the frustration of residents,” Senator Roberts said.

 “Once the EPA sees firsthand the long term damage and safety concerns facing the people of Treece, hopefully they will agree that more assistance is critically needed beyond clean up,” Brownback said. “I am glad the EPA has agreed to come visit Treece, Kansas. This is good progress and we will continue to work on this for the people of Treece.”

 “The EPA has acknowledged that Treece needs assistance with a commitment to invest in clean-up, but a clean-up alone is not sufficient,” Rep. Jenkins said. “I am glad the agency has agreed to visit to see for itself the irreparable damage mining has done to this area. This is a positive step-forward in our efforts to help the residents of Treece, but it does not resolve the problem. I will continue working with Senator Roberts and Senator Brownback to help the folks of Treece relocate.”

 At issue is the use of Stimulus funds to address top soil remediation in Cherokee County Kansas. Roberts, Brownback and Jenkins have called for a longer term solution for residents with a $3.5 million federal buyout of the town similar to the buyout EPA Region 6 helped facilitate for residents of Picher, Oklahoma, less than a mile from the town of Treece. Treece is within the jurisdiction of EPA Region 7.

 Treece, population 100, is located in Cherokee County, which encompasses 115 square miles of former mining areas dating back to the early 1900s. At one time it contained one of the richest lead and zinc ore productions in the world. Mining operations in Cherokee County stopped in 1970, but the effects of over 60 years of mining can be seen for miles around in the form of mountains of contaminated milling waste. Below these mountains and in surrounding areas are enormous caverns and hidden shafts that represent a daily threat to the safety of Treece residents and are the source of the subsidence.
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